Eastern Avenue Pedestrian Crossing and Intersection Calming at Rushbrooke Avenue

By Michael Holloway
Ward 30 Bikes
Monday, June 22, 2015

The image is a proposal to add a pedestrian crossing across Eastern Avenue at the bottom of Rushbrooke Avenue. What do you think?

Image mark-up from a screen capture of a detail of the intersection via Toronto Maps v2 (http://map.toronto.ca/maps/map.jsp?app=TorontoMaps_v2&a=2%20Rushbrooke%20Ave)

Eastern Avenue is a designed-for-speed Avenue with Bike Lanes on both sides from Logan to Leslie which has a couple of dangerous chicanes (at Rushbrooke to Leslie; and at Woodfield Rd to Coxwell).

On W30B's Jane's Walk this spring* (which Ward 30 Councillor Paula Fletcher attended) concerning the Ryerson Study we commissioned** - which visioned connecting the Jones Ave Bike Lanes to the Lake via Rushbrooke, Mosely and Leslie - it was not deemed possible to create the route that the Ryerson Students detailed due to a couple of issues.

But one element of the vision which did appear to have legs was a safe crossing for pedestrians (and cyclists) at the bottom of Rushbrooke. I've detailed through the years, many examples of people using Rushbrooke to walk south to the Big Box stores to do their shopping - and finding it quite difficult to cross Eastern Avenue there because of the fast design of the roadway; plus the chicane in the roadway which makes sight lines for both drivers and pedestrians difficult.

During the Jane's Walk a pedestrian crossing came up at the bottom of Rushbrooke as we watched several pedestrians trying to actually run the gauntlet there. Northbound pedestrians loaded with shopping bags - and if they're also parents - with strollers, can be seen having an even more difficult time crossing the roadway.

The image attached is a proposal for discussion, to add a pedestrian crossing across Eastern Avenue at the bottom of Rushbrooke.

I note that at T&EY Community Council a motion*** is in process to create Island Parking on the east side of Rushbrooke to enable more parking on that street for the residents who live there. The proposal also notes the traffic calming effects of Island Parking.

Also of note is item 3 of the motion:

Community Council Decision
The Toronto and East York Community Council - June 16, 2015:
[...]
3: Requested the Director, Transportation Services, Toronto and East York District to undertake a review once the Leslie Barns and connecting track is operational and the cycling contraflow review has been completed.

(my emphasis)

So an amendment that talks to the Ryerson Student's Proposal for a Contra-flow on Rushbrooke? W30B has no knowledge of this.

After some quick number crunching - if the Island Parking goes in, the Ryerson Students proposal for a contra-flow on Rushbrooke goes out the window - because there is not enough width on Rushbrooke to have permanent west side parking, east side Parking Islands and a contra-flow beside the northbound traffic lane at the proposed 3.3 metre width (even at 3m there is not enough room - under a metre).

The drawing notes the start point of the most southerly of the four 2-car, west side, traffic islands proposed.

To make the westbound Eastern Avenue Bike Lanes safer (and to allow less confident eastbound cyclists a route north), I have added another street calming proposal to the drawing, a big bump-out on the northeast corner of the intersection; this plus widened sidewalks on the south side of Eastern Avenue creates a shorter distance across the roadway for pedestrians - and with this, a signaled pedestrian crossing from the northeast corner of Rushbrooke to the south side of Eastern just west of Mosely - at the westbound start of the Eastern Avenue chicane there.

What do you think?


References:
* Jane's Walk 2015 | Connecting Riverdale to the Lake - A Quick Start Proposal | http://janeswalk.org/canada/toronto/connecting-riverdale-lake-quick-start-proposal/
** Connecting Greater Riverdale to the Lake (pdf 69.25MB) | https://www.dropbox.com/s/md354m5wm9yekag/Connecting%20Greater%20Riverdale%20to%20the%20Lake_Final%20Report.pdf?dl=0
***  TE7.88 Parking Regulations - Rushbrooke Avenue | http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2015.TE7.88

Post at this blog: "W30B Jane's Walk: Connecting Riverdale to the Lake - A Quick Start Proposal" | http://ward30bikes.blogspot.ca/2015/04/w30b-janes-walk-connecting-riverdale-to.html



mh

W30B Jane's Walk: Connecting Riverdale to the Lake - A Quick Start Proposal

Join Us! Sunday, May 3rd at 10:00 am - Leslie Grove Park (corner of Queen and Jones).

Ward 30 Bikes members Michael Holloway and Don Merriam will lead a walking description and discussion of Ryerson University, School of Urban & Regional Planning, Advanced Planning Studio Fall 2014 Class Report, "Connecting Greater Riverdale to the Lake".

In the report the 4th year Ryerson Planning students identified Leslie Street as a possible Quick Start option - and the only viable connection point from the neighbourhood across Lake Shore Boulevard and the Port Lands to the Waterfront.

Image: Ward 30 Bikes' 2015 Jane's Walk page:

Click: W30B Jane's Walk: Connecting Riverdale to the Lake - A Quick Start Proposal |
http://janeswalk.org/canada/toronto/connecting-riverdale-lake-quick-start-proposal/

(See a write up about a public presentation we held at SRCHC in February of this year: Metro - February 8, 2015 | Toronto cycling group pushing for Riverdale bike lanes | http://metronews.ca/news/toronto/1282831/toronto-cycling-group-pushing-for-riverdale-bike-lanes/)

See the full report here in an "Issuu" interface: http://issuu.com/brandonquigley/docs/connecting_greater_riverdale_to_the

Or - Download the .pdf from Ward 30 Bikes' DropBox: https://www.dropbox.com/s/md354m5wm9yekag/Connecting%20Greater%20Riverdale%20to%20the%20Lake_Final%20Report.pdf?dl=0

This Jane's Walk will travel the southern portion of the Quick Start route that the Student team chose.

The walk will begin at Queen St E and Jones Avenue - the point at which the Jones Ave Bike Lanes ends - and then we'll take Rushbrooke down to Eastern Avenue. At this point the route includes a proposed Pedestrian/Cyclist refuge island at the bottom of Rushbrooke between the westerly and the easterly traffic lanes on Eastern Ave - and green painted crossing points connecting it from Rushbrooke to Mosley.

From Mosley down to the south side of the Plaza intersection 'Super Sharrows' is visioned. South of the Plaza Intersection the proposal visions narrowing the existing traffic lanes and turn lanes, and installing 1.5m wide Bike Lane - northbound and southbound.

It's complicated. But it appears to be the best solution so far that doesn't remove traffic lanes or parking.

The walk should take about 1 hour.



W30B Jane's Walk: Connecting Riverdale to the Lake - A Quick Start Proposal |
http://janeswalk.org/canada/toronto/connecting-riverdale-lake-quick-start-proposal/



mh

A Better Cycling Route to the Lake

Originally posted on riverdaler.ca. Re-posted with permission.

The City From Tommy Thompson Park (The Leslie Spit)

It’s easy to forget that Riverdale is close to the lake. Riverside and Leslieville are even closer, yet obstacles like Lakeshore Boulevard and the Port Lands can make our neighbourhoods feel disconnected from the wonderful gems like Cherry Beach and Tommy Thompson Park.

Connecting Greater Riverdale to the Lake Presentation at the South Riverdale Community Health Centre. Feb. 9, 2015

A group of students from Ryerson's School of Urban and Regional Planning have set out to change that. They have put together a detailed report (pdf) called Connecting Greater Riverdale to the Lake. The report takes a detailed look at the current transportation infrastructure in Ward 30 and suggests five potential "quick start" projects that could provide safe cycling routes that connect the Danforth in the north to lake in the south. The authors of the report presented their findings at a community meeting on February 9th at the South Riverdale Community Health Centre.

 

The proposed routes. Source: Connecting Greater Riverdale to the Lake

A quick start project is meant to be affordable and achievable in a relatively short time frame. After evaluating the five potential routes the group concluded that the Jones-Rushbrook-Leslie route (the green route on the map above) is the best candidate for a quick start project for a variety of reasons including how centrally located Jones is and the fact that Jones already has bike lanes. The authors of the report estimate that the cycling route along with a corresponding wayfinding strategy could be implemented for under $100,000.

Route evaluation matrix Source: Connecting Greater Riverdale to the Lake

The route isn’t without it’s challenges: including a short jog on Queen from Jones to Rushbrooke where there isn’t room for a bike lane and a tricky intersection where Rushbrooke, Eastern Avenue and Mosley Street meet. The group came up with clever solutions to overcome these obstacles like a cyclist refuge island (similar to the one where the Lower Don Trail intersects Pottery Road) at the Rushbrooke/Eastern/Mosley intersection.

The Rushbrooke/Eastern/Mosley intersection proposal Source: Connecting Greater Riverdale to the Lake

The community members at the presentation seemed to like all of the proposed routes and wanted them constructed. Some people thought that the difficulties at the south end of the proposed Jones-Rushbrook-Leslie route were a “compromise” and that bike lanes should have been built on Leslie – especially since the street is being reconstructed for the new streetcar tracks to the Leslie Barns. A lot of people at the meeting also seemed to like the Logan and Carlaw route to the lake. Toronto-Danforth MPP Peter Tabuns, and Ravi Joshi from Councillor Paula Fletcher’s office were in attendance at the meeting.

Which of the proposed routes do you think is best? What will it take to get a better cycling route to the lake? Let us know in the comments!



- by Ward 30 Bikes' member, Mark Hutchinson.

Originally published at the Riverdaler - 2015-02-14 | A Better Cycling Route to the Lake | http://www.riverdaler.ca/2015/better-cycling-to-the-lake/



writer m-hutchinson/editor m-holloway

Connecting Riverdale to the Lake

Great turn out last night!  Thanks to all that came and especially to the students and their prof for putting together this amazing report.  

Full blog post to come...

Community Presentation - you're invited!

Connecting Greater Riverdale to the Lake

School of Urban and Regional Planning
Ryerson University
Advanced Planning Studio - Fall 2014
"Connecting Greater Riverdale to the Lake"
Terms of Reference

In January of this year Paul Young and myself talked with Ryerson University Professor Don Verbanac about using the problem of the limited number of connections that are available between South Riverdale and the Lake Ontario water front, in the practical planning coarse he teaches every fall at Ryerson's School of Urban and Regional Planning.

He has accepted our challenge and is about to put it to his students in this fall's Advanced Planning Studio course.

Paul Young, a Health Promoter at South Riverdale Community Health Centre (Queen St. East and Carlaw Ave), and myself, Michael Holloway, Captain of Ward 30 Bikes (the Cycle Toronto Ward advocacy group for the area), will act as the Clients.

The students will analyze the problem and produce a do-able plan, and a multi-media presentation of that plan.

Tomorrow is a visit to the Planning Studio at Ryerson to outline our problem and answer any questions the student Planners have about it.

Next week is a ride down Logan Ave and proximate environs to look at existing conditions.

Down the road there will be a stakeholders' meeting in the neighbourhood.


Do you have any ideas you think we should take to the process? Please let us know.

Image of the Terms of Reference .PDF

(click for full size - opens in new tab/window)

(click for full size - opens in new tab/window)

Full Size Image URL: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoUWffxn3wXGDMTzOhRWDEJRGHlrjCmV0c6QH3NPp_MFl9P715q4AL22-zgmOWOzTBxZZwk2iptW730e_JZC2ohQlPwReJkUXolLd6CmO-HN-iL1afTqddUPuOVroucA5U3iZyAoUpZsIK/s3200/Connecting+Greater+Riverdale+to+the+Lake+-+TERMS+OF+REFERENCE+-+RYERSON+UNIVERSITY+-+SCHOOL+OF+URBAN+AND+REGIONAL+PLANNING+-+Fall+2014.JPG

Live Links to References

1. Toronto Public Health. Road to Health: Improving Walking and Cycling in Toronto
(April 2012). Retrieved August 07, 2014 from:
http://www.toronto.ca/health/hphe/pdf/roadtohealth.pdf

2. City of Toronto. Toronto Cycling Statistics. Retrieved August 21, 2014 from:
http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=caa5970aa08c1410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD

3. University of British Columbia. GEOG350/2010WT1/SouthRiverdaleToronto.
Retrieved August 07, 2014 from:
http://wiki.ubc.ca/Course:GEOG350/2010WT1/SouthRiverdaleToronto



mh