Tragedy on Avenue Road not an Anomaly
Last Wednesday, Miguel Joshua Escanan’s young life was taken while riding his bike on Avenue Road, metres beyond the end of ActiveTO bike lanes (and where a speedway begins).
Bloor West Bikeway Extension Drop-In
The Bloor West Bikeway Extension drop-in provided a huge amount of information. Here are our thoughts.
Artist's rendering of Bloor West Bikeway Extension
The Bloor West Bikeway Extension drop-in opened at 4PM on January 27th and people immediately began filing in. After registering, they entered a room with 39 different info panels, maps for feedback, and City Staff to answer questions. You can view the info panels here if you want a second look or can’t make it out to either meeting.
Block-by-block designs are available here:
- Bloor West Village (Runnymede to Clendenan)
- Bloor by the Park / High Park (Clendenan to Dundas)
- Symington / Rail Corridor (Dundas to St. Helen’s)
- Bloordale (St. Helen’s to Dufferin)
- Bloorcourt (Dufferin to Shaw)
This is a huge amount of information to take in, and the key takeaway is that Bloor should be getting a bike lane with concrete curb and bollard separation for almost the entire 4.5km extension. This will do a lot to increase safety for all road users and increase access to local businesses, schools, and homes. It is generally good news, but there are a few areas where we’d like to see improvement. Here are our thoughts.
Positive features
We liked that there was a protected bike lane for almost the entire length of the extension. The concrete curb and bollard protection is a higher standard than seen in most parts of the city.
Most intersections keep cyclists curbside rather than having drivers and riders switch spots, such as the configuration at intersections like Bloor and Bathurst. On top of that, new turning restrictions have been proposed with cyclist and pedestrian safety being top of mind.
Lastly, we saw a greater consideration of on-street parking and accommodation of deliveries, pick-ups and drop-offs, including for WheelTrans users.
All of the above factors contribute to a safer and easier to use roadway.
Areas that need improvement
Some areas we’d like to see improved include providing better protection at bus stops, which could be accomplished with floating bus stops.
Some key intersections, such as Keele / Parkside and Bloor, don’t have protection and right-turning traffic crosses paths with people riding bikes. A separate right-turn signal phase could help keep people safe at this intersection, which has a high volume of vehicular traffic turning right onto Parkside from eastbound Bloor.
The narrowest section of the road is through the Bloordale neighbourhood where concrete curbs are only being proposed on the side of the road with parking. We would like to see concrete curbs installed on both sides of the road for the entire length of the project as bike lanes without sufficient protection frequently end up blocked by illegally stopped vehicles. The clearest and safest option is to have concrete curbs installed on both sides of the road for the entire length of the project.
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Once again, there are a lot of good things happening in Bloor West Bikeway Extension and please let the City know what you think. There’s still a chance to attend a drop-in in person at the event Thursday, January 30th (details below). If you can’t make it to this either, you can view the info panels online and provide online feedback as well.
Public Drop-in #2
Date: Today, January 30th
When: 4-8PM
Where: Lithuanian House, 1573 Bloor St W (Bloor & Dundas)
View all of the information panels
Provide feedback on the design
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