Bring on the Bloor West Complete Street Extension!

At long last, the City of Toronto has announced two public consultations for the Bloor West complete street extension. The first one will be held on Wednesday, April 12 (6:00 to 8:00 PM) at Swansea Public School (207 Windermere Avenue) and the second on Thursday, April 13 (6:00 to 8:00 PM) at Etobicoke Collegiate Institute (86 Montgomery Road). While I encourage those who support extending the Bloor bike lanes west to Six Points to attend, those who are unable to can submit their feedback online by Thursday, April 27. Let’s review what’s included in the plan.

Rendering of Humber River Bridge - All photos are from the City of Toronto's project website

Missed Opportunity for Bloor?

Last month, Toronto City Council approved extending the Bloor bike lanes from Runnymede to Six Points by 2024 as part of the 2022-24 Cycling Implementation Plan. Upon rereading the plan earlier this week, I came across a section called “Secondary Priority for Consideration” which listed several projects that didn’t make the cut; but could be considered should other projects get deferred or staff capacity is increased. One of these projects is Bloor Street from Etobicoke Creek to the bridge crossing Highway 427 with a note saying it has near-term road work planned which couldn’t be deferred.

Overhauling Toronto’s Urban Highway Interchanges

Last year, the City of Toronto substantially completed the reconfiguration of Six Points; one of the City’s worst intersections for people walking or cycling. The spaghetti junction was replaced with three at-grade crossings for Bloor, Dundas, and Kipling including protected bike lanes, proper sidewalks, and streetscaping improvements. However, there are several other overbuilt urban highway interchanges which could use similarly radical interventions.

Dundas at Royal York

Finishing the Job on Bloor

The past twelve months have seen real progress with cycling on Toronto’s main arterials. Not only is there now the 15 kilometre Bloor-Danforth corridor, but City Council approved a study for bike lanes on Yonge in Midtown and Transform Yonge in North York last fall. Phase one of yongeTOmorrow downtown also passed at the infrastructure and Environment Committee recently and will come to City Council on February 2. With the future of Yonge being all but locked in, it’s time to focus on Etobicoke.

Bloor Street at the Humber River looking west towards Etobicoke

Connecting to Kipling Station

On Monday, a virtual public meeting was held regarding a proposal to extend the Martin Grove bike lanes from Rathburn to just north of Burnamthorpe, as well as upgrade the existing Rathburn bike lanes with protection and the intersection at Rathburn and Martin Grove. This is all part of a watermain replacement project planned for next year. I was able to tune in to the meeting and have some thoughts to share.

Rendering of proposed Martin Grove cycle tracks (via City of Toronto)

Weston to Six Points via West Deane Trail

This past weekend was a warm one with temperatures approaching 20 degrees and may be the last weekend this year when riding with shorts and t-shirt is possible in Toronto. On Sunday, I went up to Weston to help out a stunt the Toronto Community Bikeways Coalition was working on and decided to check out the West Deane Trail and Six Points on my way back.

Checking Out Scarlett and Six Points

The Etobicoke York district has two main cycling projects for 2019; those being the protected bike lanes on Scarlett Road and the Six Points intersection in Etobicoke Centre. Scarlett was part of an action plan proposed by the Ward 11 Pedestrian Safety and Cycling Community (now Ward 5 York South Weston), while Six Points – where Bloor, Dundas, and Kipling meet – is attracting higher density development. I biked by these two areas on Sunday to understand the importance of these two projects.

Scarlett cycle tracks at the Humber River Trail