Addressing Bike Lane Obstruction Risks

As you probably already know, a 24-year-old female cyclist was killed on Bloor Street east of Avenue Road last Thursday; making it a record-breaking five cyclists killed this year so far. A likely cause of death was the placement of a construction bin at the end of the bike lane which forced the cyclist to exit the bike lane early to get around before being hit and killed. Since then, there have been a fair number of reports of motor vehicles blocking bike lanes which prompted me to write about how we can address such bike lane blocking risks.

A blocked bike lane on Davenport at Bartlett on Saturday, July 27

Kitchener to Hamilton - Part 3 (Hamilton)

Over the past few days, I have been writing about last Friday’s 115 kilometre ride from Kitchener to Hamilton. Part 1 focused on Waterloo Region while Part 2 covered the Cambridge to Paris and Hamilton to Brantford Rail Trails. Part 3 is the final installment which will focus on Hamilton.

Critiquing Bartlett-Havelock-Gladstone Phase 2

Since the Phase 2 consultation for the Bartlett-Havelock-Gladstone (BHG) project conflicts with the one for the High Park Movement Strategy – both happening on Monday, April 3 – I opted reviewed the materials early and submitted feedback based on the available information. Phase 1 from Davenport Road to College Street was done last year.

Bartlett contraflow just north of Bloor Street

Improving Moncton’s Bikeway Network

September 2022 marked the first time I went back home to Moncton in over three years. During this time, I borrowed a bike from my friend Joel and managed to do a 30 kilometre loop around the city on Saturday, September 10. Given last Wednesday’s cyclist fatality which happened near Connaught Avenue and Wheeler Boulevard, let’s review the loop and identify ways Moncton’s cycling network can be improved.

Tour de Mississauga 2022

Sunday was a great day for the 15th Annual Tour de Mississauga which saw over 2000 people take part. This family friendly ride has five ride options to choose ranging from 5 km to 100 km, while those doing the 50 km or 100 km had rest stops with complimentary food and drink. I chose the 50 km which – combined with biking to and from Downtown Toronto – lead to my first century ride since the Ride to Conquer Cancer in 2014. The ride offered a good sampling of Mississauga’s trails and bike lanes. Let’s take a look at some of them.

Fixing the Davenport Disaster

While there are people who view St. Clair as a disaster over the streetcar line there, the term “disaster” better applies to Davenport from a cycling perspective. Especially between Bay and Dupont where bike lanes placed in the door zone can lead to the bike lanes being blocked when snow gets piled by the curbs. Not to mention, Avenue and Davenport was where a ghost bike was placed for Adam Excell who was killed by a driver in June 2015. Fortunately, the City of Toronto plans to improve this part of Davenport, as well as extend the bike lanes east to Yonge Street where bike lanes could be installed from Bloor to just north of Lawrence later this year. The slides from yesterday's consultation - which I missed - can be found here.

Door zone bike lanes are prone to being blocked when snow piles by the curbs

Send Peel-Gladstone Back To The Drawing Board

On Monday, December 2, the City of Toronto hosted a second drop in meeting regarding Peel and Gladstone Avenues. While I couldn’t go to this one, I was able to prepare some thoughts on the revised plan.

Original Peel-Gladstone Proposal (via City of Toronto)

Addressing Pickering's Transportation Plan Challenges

For the first time in twenty years, the City of Pickering is updating their Integrated Transportation Master Plan. If there is one thing which badly needs to be addressed in the plan update, it’s their lack of cycling infrastructure. Per this image from Google Maps, Pickering is a cyclist’s black hole except for parts of the Waterfront Trail and a few disconnected bike lanes in the rest of the city; some of which don’t even qualify as bike lanes. Henceforth, I provided this submission to highlight some of the challenges I experienced and suggest some improvements.

Google Maps bicycling layer of Pickering and the rest of Durham Region

Let's Talk About Laneways

Laneways have been getting a lot of attention in Toronto as of late. There is the ongoing push to allow secondary homes to be built on top of laneway garages to help address Toronto’s housing shortage, while many laneway garages showcase all kinds of murals. One laneway I sometimes use as a shortcut to the Parkdale Library – Milky Way – is home to a community garden and the first piece of property owned by the Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust.

Milky Way laneway in Parkdale

Pedalling Back Full Circle

My love for cycling started during childhood in Moncton, New Brunswick more than twenty years ago. It's a journey that lead me to bike in four provinces (New Brunswick, Québec, Ontario, British Columbia) and four other countries (United Kingdom, Netherlands, France, Sint-Maarten); not to mention advocate for safer streets in Toronto since 2012. During Christmas vacation in Moncton, this passion has come full circle with some Viking Biking (or should we say Polar Pedal for a more Canadian tie-in?) to see what has changed since I last biked there in 2006.

Downtown Moncton from City Hall pedway

Beyond Ajax ... Cycling in Whitby and Oshawa

As far as Durham Region goes, Ajax is the Region's cycling leader and Pickering is the laggard. (more on this here) However, the Region has six other municipalities; those being Whitby, Oshawa, Clarington, Uxbridge, Brock, and Scugog. Thanks to a Strava map provided by Joe Arruda, I checked two more municipalities off my to-do list with a 29-kilometre ride from Whitby to Oshawa GO stations on Sunday, November 13.

Sheltered bicycle racks at Whitby GO station

Quirks Along Toronto's Waterfront

Toronto’s Martin Goodman Trail is THE signature destination for the city’s residents; especially the cycling community. The transformed Queen’s Quay opened last year to great fanfare and work is under way in completing a major gap in Etobicoke from Norris Crescent to First Street. Even with these improvements, here are the top ten concerns along the Martin Goodman Trail from a cycling perspective.

Taking Advocacy Upstream

OK! So you may have found a good cause to volunteer for and have done that for a while. During your volunteering, have you ever wondered why a problem related to your cause keeps on coming back? Have you been asking yourself what could be done to overcome that obstacle, or who needs to be approached? Are there other like-minded organizations facing the same challenges which yours could collaborate with? If you find yourself asking these questions, sounds like you are ready to take your advocacy efforts upstream, which is something I have been exploring lately.