[robmausser]

In 2013, the City contacted TRCA to request assistance in planning and implementing a trail connection project to close the gap, via a multi-staged approach.

Man, some of this stuff takes forever...

 

[W. K. Lis]

Man, some of this stuff takes forever...

Doesn't help when you have (suburban) councillors who look at bicycles as "recreational" third-class "taxpayers", and who don't use bicycles. There are some councillors who don't consider cyclists as "taxpayers".

 

[salsa]

Going back to business as usual?

Source: Cycle Toronto

 

[H4F33Z]

Are you hoping 2021, will be an exciting year for cycling expansion, and new bike lanes. Well prepare to get your hopes down. It's not looking good. These are all the new bike lanes, cycle tracks, contraflows, and boulevard trails planned for this year. If you remember this map having more stuff, You would be correct! Most major routes got pushed back (in toronto fashion.) This map doesn't include sharrows, or bike lane upgrades. Only new installations. This map also doesn't include Yonge, as it's an ActiveTO installation which is a seperate initiative. It is planned for Summer 2021.

 

[Northern Light]

Apparently, a report to be tabled next week, and head to Committee the week after will recommend bike lanes, this year on Yonge from Bloor to Davisville.

City staff recommend opening a big swath of Yonge Street to bike lanes and patios for summer

If the staff conclusion is backed by city council, more than three kilometres of curb lane on Yonge Street – from Bloor Street downtown to Davisville Avenue in midtown – would be remade before summer

www.theglobeandmail.com

Similar to Danforth, the area would also get the CafeTO program for patios in the curb lanes of streets.

 

[innsertnamehere]

While great, why not go to Eglinton? You could connect them with the imminent Eglinton lanes that way too. I also wouldn't mind an extension southwards to College to tie into the planned Yonge Street Reconstruction.

The College lanes also need to get extended east to at least Yonge Street, but the ROW is there for them to go to Church Street easily. But that's another matter.

 

[salsa]

While great, why not go to Eglinton? You could connect them with the imminent Eglinton lanes that way too.

My guess is this part will wait until the current lane reductions due to construction at Eglinton comes to a close.

 

[Northern Light]

I expect we will get the answer's as to staff's rationale for not going further north or south when the report drops.

Then we can decide if we agree or disagree w/same.

Though the Globe suggests the report will drop next week; unless its being dropped early, it will probably be out ~ March 16th, as reports usually drop one week ahead of committee (2 weeks for Community Council).

Next meeting of Infrastructure and Environment is March 23rd.

 

[H4F33Z]

Weren't the Yonge bike lanes planned to go to Lawrence?

 

[Northern Light]

Weren't the Yonge bike lanes planned to go to Lawrence?

Eventually, yes.

And Council motions reflected that; as well as going south to College.

We will have to see the report as to why staff have apparently recommended Davisville to Bloor for now.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Time for a Tint?​

From link.

Colored asphalt for a bike path getting applied in Munich. Photo from the "Coloured Asphalt" website

Bike paths go in. Green paint is applied to the asphalt. Ribbons are cut. Speeches given. Everything looks great. And then a few years pass, and the paint is all but worn away.

That progression has some wondering why the Bay Area doesn’t take another page from the Dutch handbook: bike lanes in the Netherlands are paved with colored asphalt, rather than a layer of paint. Since the pigment is mixed into the asphalt itself, the color isn’t lost as friction wears away the surface.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1367507426983903232

It doesn’t have to be red, of course, but “using integral-colored asphalt, as the Dutch do, makes more sense than painting the surface. Painting the surface is cheap to install but wears very poorly,” wrote Livable Cities’ Tom Radulovich.

From the International Coloured Asphalt Foundation (yes, there is such a thing):

Coloured asphalt is a durable solution with similar mechanical resistance as normal asphalt, improves safety due to attention and separation of traffic functions and offers a wide variety of landscaping possibilities. Application areas are bus lanes, speed bumps, bicycle lanes, parking areas, squares, playgrounds and footpaths.
Coloured asphalt consists of clear (transparent) binder, colour pigments and aggregates. Coloured aggregates are recommended to achieve a durable colour. By carefully selecting the right configuration of binder, pigments and aggregates, every desired colour is possible!

Streetsblog reached out to OakDOT and SFMTA to find out why they use paint or thermoplastic (colored plastic melted on top of the asphalt) rather than colored asphalt. Streetsblog will update this post if they reply; however, a source at one of the agencies said he’s not aware of colored asphalt being considered for any street projects.

The downside of paint: SFMTA’s project on 2nd in 2019, a few months after it was painted. Photo: Streetsblog/Rudick

Nobody argues that colored asphalt wouldn’t be a superior, longer-lasting treatment (note the above photo of the bike lane on 2nd in San Francisco, shortly after it was painted). However, “given that even continuous green thermoplastic is getting cut out of bikeway projects here due to its expense (it can add up: $8 per square foot for 6’ bike lanes both ways over a mile-long project would cost half a million dollars), I think an even costlier treatment would be very unlikely,” wrote Bike East Bay’s Robert Prinz in an email to Streetsblog.

“Berkeley had conversations about colored asphalt many years ago and Public Works quickly nixed the idea due to costs,” added the Dave Cambell, also from Bike East Bay.

A 2016 study done by Oklahoma’s DOT estimated that paint costs about $3.60 per square foot with labor, while adding a layer of colored asphalt was $13. Presumably, similar ratios would apply in the Bay Area. Of course, streets eventually need to be resurfaced with new asphalt whether or not they have been colored, and the Oklahoma study noted that colored asphalt was only marginally more expensive than conventional asphalt. The takeaway: if applying fresh asphalt as part of its project, use colored asphalt for bike or transit lanes. The lower maintenance costs compared to paint will save money.

However, in the Bay Area, even in major repaving projects that include bike lanes, such as Telegraph in Oakland, the Presidio’s project, or Fremont’s redesign of Walnut, pictured above, cities continue to put down conventional asphalt then come back and apply a layer of paint afterward. The paint then wears off and has to be redone. “The city generally does a poor job balancing initial capital cost against future operating, maintenance, and replacement costs,” said Radulovich.

Paint and thermoplastic “is easier to remove and reapply if changes to street layout need to be made, so it’s a more flexible/nimble way of demarcating space for people who bike,” said the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition’s Brian Wiedenmeier. But if cities are sure enough of their configurations to be laying new asphalt, mixing pigment into it just makes more sense. “Often spending a little more at the outset saves a lot more over time,” said Radulovich. “We need to think about leaving fewer messes for people to clean up later.”

 

[afransen]

I kind of prefer red to green. Green is a bit garish.

Sounds like coloured asphalt would cost on the order of $500k per km for two 1.5m lanes in each direction. Maybe this helps to support the argument for properly separately bike paths from the road to protect them from the wear of heavy vehicles. Bike paths can last for 20+ years without needing to resurfaced, which makes this cost premium a bit more manageable.

 

[Northern Light]

Looks like good news tomorrow.

 

[WillTo]

Looks like good news tomorrow.


View attachment 305138

Anyone care to speculate?

 

[afransen]

National cycling infrastructure funding? That's the only thing I can imagine.