[Northern Light]

new bike lanes on Silver star blvd from I believe steeles to Passmore. they were painted just a few days ago. Does anyone else know about this?View attachment 490064

Not really new, they were there in 2021, you can see them on Streetview; its just that they didn't have the diamond icon before. Possible they got widened a smidge, as typically, the City differentiates a 'curb line' from a 'bike lane' based on width. Bike lanes are expected to achieve 1.8M wide I think; but don't hold me to that.

From 2021 (Streetview)

There's no formal project associated with this as this point, so far as I can discern.

 

[facepalming_brooklynite]

new bike lanes on Silver star blvd from I believe steeles to Passmore. they were painted just a few days ago. Does anyone else know about this?View attachment 490064

Looks like a death trap to me, considering that drivers are likely to speed here. I would not feel safe on that strip and would ride on the sidewalk instead

 

[generalcanada]

"bike lanes" aka "bike gutters"

 

[mind_the_gap]

This is the near-term plan/hope through 2024/25 for eastern North York:

View attachment 489732

Solid Red is designed/approved/implemented. (brighter is new 2022-24)

Pink Dashed is approved.

Red Dashed is subject to study. (some of these studies are already underway)

Thank you for the reply @Northern Light, and for sharing this map! I got this in the mail today:

Nice to see from your map that the lanes will also soon reach just east of Leslie. Will these be raised bike lanes, or painted/buffered?

 

[Northern Light]

Thank you for the reply @Northern Light, and for sharing this map! I got this in the mail today:

View attachment 490263

Nice to see from your map that the lanes will also soon reach just east of Leslie. Will these be raised bike lanes, or painted/buffered?

Uphill, looking west of Leslie:

Looking east from here towards Leslie (aerial)

So the answer is generally buffered and sometimes raised. The exact details may vary at this point as these renders are from '21.

 

[mind_the_gap]

Uphill, looking west of Leslie:

View attachment 490268

Sadly, this is the exact location where my elderly father was stopped by the police and issued a ”warning” for biking on the sidewalk, despite being afraid of the traffic at his age, a few years back.

 

[enter username]

Is there a city program for cutting curbs where park trails meet roads? It seems to be pretty haphazard which curbs ramp down vs drop off, and it's arguably pretty cheap bike infrastructure. For example 3 of 4 curbs are cut at Fred Hamilton park, but the one near 187 Roxton road is not. I have many places in mind that I would even pay for if it was possible

 

[H4F33Z]

Is there a city program for cutting curbs where park trails meet roads? It seems to be pretty haphazard which curbs ramp down vs drop off, and it's arguably pretty cheap bike infrastructure. For example 3 of 4 curbs are cut at Fred Hamilton park, but the one near 187 Roxton road is not. I have many places in mind that I would even pay for if it was possible

View attachment 490309View attachment 490310

You can contact 311 to request a curb-cut. If no response, try reaching out to your local councillor.

 

[robmausser]

Is there a city program for cutting curbs where park trails meet roads? It seems to be pretty haphazard which curbs ramp down vs drop off, and it's arguably pretty cheap bike infrastructure. For example 3 of 4 curbs are cut at Fred Hamilton park, but the one near 187 Roxton road is not. I have many places in mind that I would even pay for if it was possible

View attachment 490309View attachment 490310

So according to my friend who works in the bike lane department of the city, curb cuts are the most difficult thing to get done. They require sign off of three different departments. Its a lot of dumb red tape.

He suggests calling and saying you are disabled and using a mobility device to get around and got stuck here. That usually expedites things.

 

[ADRM]

So according to my friend who works in the bike lane department of the city, curb cuts are the most difficult thing to get done. They require sign off of three different departments. Its a lot of dumb red tape.

He suggests calling and saying you are disabled and using a mobility device to get around and got stuck here. That usually expedites things.

I've encountered this dynamic, myself. There's also a *deeply* frustrating (but very Toronto) thing where Transportation doesn't like to introduce new curb cuts where there is not a signed, stop-controlled pedestrian crossing right there.

As Rob noted, the Councillor is typically the easiest route to get this sort of shit overridden (depending on the Councillor, of course).

 

[robmausser]

I've encountered this dynamic, myself. There's also a *deeply* frustrating (but very Toronto) thing where Transportation doesn't like to introduce new curb cuts where there is not a signed, stop-controlled pedestrian crossing right there.

As Rob noted, the Councillor is typically the easiest route to get this sort of shit overridden (depending on the Councillor, of course).

There are still a bunch of uncut curbs on the Beltline, which is extra frustrating when they've put so much money into those "Stations" art project along the trail. The fact that we are romanticizing a failed commuter line that lasted all of 2 years before going bankrupt instead of actually doing things that are useful like curb cuts or extending the lighting along the Beltline is peak Toronto. The irony is so thick you could swim in it.

 

[Northern Light]

I'll chime in to the above discussion w/this; Transportation has some great staff who are true believers in walking, cycling and transit and do their best to put many of the ideas discussed here forward.

It is also home to some incredibly regressive people outside of that group of dedicated staff who make advancing those priorities a challenge at times.

On top of which, you have other departments which have loud opinions and can make some things difficult to do (sometimes understandably because of different mandates, but often frustratingly, due to intransigence or even incompetence)

Lastly, there are 'community stakeholders' who can be ferocious at times. They can push hard against staff, and lobby Council to scuttle plans into which a great deal of work was put.

Btw, sometimes an area has more than one powerful stakeholder group, and they may not get along w/the other(s) at all.

Can't say more than that at the moment..........

But just to be aware......there are good staff trying to make great things happen, and they often don't lack the good ideas or common sense you may think when you see what does or does not come forward; there's much backstory, some of which
may never be public.

 

[max]

Barriers are going back in on the North side of Adelaide. They've done from Bathurst to Spadina and are currently working their way over to Charlotte.

 

[Coolibop]

View attachment 490004

Heads up for those thinking of taking the proposed Meadoway detour in Scarborough:

I decided to bike the proposed detour from Ellesmere Gatineau trail section east down to Morningside park this past weekend. The (new) trail section along Ellesmere is paved and open and appears to continue up the opposite side of the ravine for some length (I didn't have time to explore this bit). The portion connecting to Morningside park, however, is still mostly not paved and has deep/large gravel sections with sand. I wouldn't recommend anyone with a road bike (suggest mountain or better) take this route unless you don't mind dismounting several times until you get to Morningside Park rd.

 

[WillTo]

Barriers are going back in on the North side of Adelaide. They've done from Bathurst to Spadina and are currently working their way over to Charlotte.

Johnny Strides update as of 6 hours ago:

Toronto LIVE: Into Downtown and Getting Caught in a Storm - PART 2

The first part (8 mins) died when my connection crapped out in Forest Hill...Link: https://youtube.com/live/22SF9YhfJM0Recorded on Tuesday, July 11, 2023.My ...

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