New Bike Infrastructure Lately

I think we can safely say, Toronto is in the midst of a new era for bike improvements.  Wait, wait, before you start crying foul (yes, yes, we have a LONG way to go), let's stop and think about all the good that has come over the last few months.  Bloor, Simcoe, Bayview, and the Viaduct.  In the midst of being frustrated about the slow pace of change in Toronto, take a moment to think about some recent successes.

Bloor
The new pilot project protected bike lanes along Bloor sure did cause quite the media hoopla in August. Never has road works been so heavily reported!




















September there was the Bells on Bloor victory celebration lap, and Ward 30 Bikes co-hosted with Scarborough Cycles a feeder ride from Logan / Danforth to meet up with the main ride - great turnout in the east end:

Danforth & Logan feeder ride

Bells turnout was huge!

Councillor Layton speaks at Bells on Bloor, photo: Cycle Toronto

Bells on Bloor Photo: Toronto Observer

And then in early October we learned that a new Forum poll shows that 70% of respondents approve of bike lanes in Toronto!


But since then, quite a few other improvements have been installed to much quieter media reaction. Here's a rundown of what's happened lately:

Simcoe upgrade
Last year Councillor Cressy put forward a motion to separate the rest of Simcoe Street bike lane.  For those familiar, what was there before was mostly separated lane (with planters!) from Richmond St to Wellington.

The better parts of Simcoe

After that... the bike lane down to the waterfront trail was left to your faith in the magic repellent powers of painted lines.

Before: Simcoe Bike lanes - the painted lines, they do nothing!

Well, in October, we got better separation:  bollards.  Not the best, but better than before (note: can't find a good after photo)

Upgrade in process.  After the buffer, bollards were installed

And on a personal note, I biked my son to the 2nd last Jays game of the post season and was super thankful that coming up from the waterfront trail I had those plastic sticks to keep vehicles (mostly) in check, what a difference it made for that section leading up to major family destinations.  It's actually kind of shocking that major destination like Rogers Centre, Steamwhistle Brewery and Train Museum, Ripleys Aquarium and the CN Tower didn't have a safe way to get there by bike.  From now on, Waterfront Trail to Simcoe Bollards and I'm there!


Bayview near Brickworks

The media picked up on this one, and called it a game changer.  Given that the connection is only from Pottery Road to Rosedale Valley Road, and doesn't go all the way south to the Corktown Common trails down there, or north towards Moore and the paths in the Mt Pleasant Cemetery, i'm going to say calling it a game changer is bold. Or it's just click bait.  Also... a metal guard rail?  That a'int no game changer.  Ya! Way to reinforce that feeling of riding beside a highway!

I will concede however, it's a game changer specifically for getting to the Evergreen Brickworks. Because if you've ever done it from Ward 30 with kids in the past.... your heart palpitations may still not have stopped.  Ride down Pottery, then a poorly paved Shoulder-Of-Death and a blind corner right before the Brickworks.... ya...   So then you probably did what we did, crossed the viaduct went on an extended detour through Rosedale and picked up the Milkman's path.  Which is fine and dandy until you need to get out of the valley and your kids can't push their bikes up the rough wooded trail let alone bike it (and your dutch cargo bike can't make it out either - to much pretty nature!)  So you try one more time by going deeper through Rosedale, find the switchback ramp over the tracks at Summerhill and make your way up to Moore and try to get to Brickworks from the north via the Beltline trail.  Only to find not only do you have the same rough wooded trail problem on your way home, but by now your young kids have biked 5km out of their way just to find a safe way into Brickworks.

So, yes... for us folks in Ward 30 trying to safely get to Brickworks, this is indeed a game changer.  The most direct route now has significant safety improvements.

October view of Bayview bike paths across from Brickworks, note the bike traffic signals too! Photo: @Sean_YYZ Twitter

And the new pottery road multi use bridge is a HUGE improvement as well.

But I need to have another go at the guard rail protection of Bayview bike paths:

Not good enough! I feel that living in Toronto I am condition to cheer for whatever we can get.  Our love affair with plastic flexi-post bollards are not going to win any best practice awards in Denmark or the Netherlands.  So a metal guard rail is better, yes... but, we can do so much better!!

Grass buffers perhaps?  This is the Don Valley, there is space.

Netherlands - family friendly bike heaven

The Viaduct
Well this was a surprise to I think almost everyone.  Protection for the viaduct was approved YEARS ago, but we've been forever told that the membrane of the Viaduct cannot be drilled into, so protection couldn't happen.  And then city staff quietly went x-rayed the bridge and figured it out. Install happened over one weekend, with a giant crew of TWO workers and ONE hand drill.  And ta-da, protected-ish.

My safety assessment:  I won't let my 6 year old ride on this, but when I ride I have less fear of orphaning my 2 kids.   Let us know in the comments how you feel about the width of the bike lane for passing etc.,


Still under construction and finishing asap:  upgrades to Gerrard bike lane between Sherbourne and Ryerson (spoiler... protection with trees!) and Peter Street.  Stay tuned, we'll report back soon.

Advocacy in Action: Ramp to Lower Don Trail

It's coming! Success!

Remember our ongoing work on the Lower Don Trail? This struggle to access the Lower Don Trail will soon be a thing of the past!

First Attempt

In 2012-2013, when the City of Toronto commissioned a Master Plan for the lower Don Trail, public consultations were held. At that time we advocated for accessible ramps to the trail.  But when the final plan was released we were all disappointed to see that more staircases were proposed to access the Lower Don Trail at Gerrard Street East and Dundas Street East, but without including ramps to provide universal access.

Second Attempt

Not satisfied with the result, advocates from across the community came together. With Ward 30 Bike's Michael Halloway taking the lead.  We did some scouting, mesasuring, calculating, and sketching, and came to the conclusion that a ramp option is absolutely viable. Ward 30 Bikes authored the April 2014 report “Creating Accessible Connections: Ramps to the Lower Don Trail at Dundas and Gerrard,” which was endorsed by Walk Toronto, Cycle Toronto Trails Working Group, Ward 28 Cycling Advocacy Group and Ward 29 Bikes. The Lower Don Trail project team reviewed the proposal and other community comments received. The project team unfortunately concluded that ramps could not be included in the project.

Third Times' the Charm

Still not satisfied, we took our concerns to our local councillor Paula Fletcher who in turn organized a site visit and then put in a formal request to the Parks and Environment Committee to reassess the accessibility issues.  Walk Toronto also submitted its own “Lower Don Trail Accessibility” report in August 2014. 

Success!

Paula Fletcher shares the good news at Bells on Danforth

And then we heard the good news.  In March 2015, the city confirmed that a budget had been allocated to make the pedestrian bridge at Riverdale Park fully accessible with a ramp! Paula officially made the public announcement in June at the Bells on Danforth ride, and the design consultation process is underway (yes, we are part of the design process!). If all goes to plan, we could have the bridge done by next year! Stay tuned for results of the design process and celebrations when it opens.

Thank you to all the advocates involved!  Ward 28 and Ward 29 bike advocacy groups, Cycle Toronto's Trails Working Group, Walk Toronto, South Riverdale Community Health Centre, the Riverside BIA and everyone in the community who voiced their support for accessible ramps.  

Get involved

Want to be part of projects like this?  Join us! Help bring positive change to the community, and positive improvements to our neighbourhood!   We meet the first Tuesday of every month at the Ralph Thornton Centre.



** note, this is a post I thought we'd published back in July, turns out it was still sitting in draft!  Oops... it's old news now, but it's still exciting news to share! **

Pt 3 - LSB/LDRT Intersection Hazards - Massing to the East of Logan

In Part 3 of the "LSB/LDRT Intersection Hazards" series, I get good video of drivers blocking the trail - at virtually every instance - as they try to make turns from southbound Logan onto westbound Lake Shore Boulevard.

In the second of these two video in Part 3, I look at the massing in driver's sightlines to the east of Logan that - in my opinion - is forcing drivers out across the trail in order to see to make their turns safely (for themselves and drivers on LSB anyway).

To conclude I present a possible fix for the driver sightlines problem.

LDRT/Logan - Driver Sightlines III - Turning drivers blocking the Trail



LDRT/Logan - Driver Sightlines IV - Massing to the east of Logan


Drivers turning westbound at Logan at Lake Shore Boulevard have to block the LDRT with their vehicles in order to get a clear view of oncoming traffic because in this observers opinion, their sightlines are blocked by a variety of fairly thin objects that together, mass to create a visual barrier as they try to understand the rate of approach of westbound LSB traffic.

This visual barrier complicates an already complicated intersection - which includes an east-west recreation trail, a railway line, and fast-moving highway traffic from the east.

May we suggest moving the trail as far south as far as possible; removing the 16 inch concrete barrier between the trail and the rail spur; moving the trees to the north side of the trail (into a bioswale construct please).

In this amateur planners' opinion, this would move the trail about a metre south, and at the same time clear driver's sightlines right where they would need to stop to avoid blocking the Trail. As well, the trees are suffocating right next to the roadway because of the carbon dioxide, ozone and the carbon monoxide massing there; moving them 3 metres away into a bioswale, might create vigorous growth - rather than a maintenance bill to replace them regularly.



mh

Pt 2 - LSB/LDRT Intersection Hazards - Driver Sightlines

Conflicts between Drivers and Lower Don Recreation Trail users at Lake Shore Boulevard and the neighbourhood streets running north-south out of South Riverdale - Morse St, Logan St and Booth St - are the usual coarse of events when motor vehicle drivers try to make the dangerous and heart pounding merge onto the fast Lake Shore Boulevard.

The specific behaviour that is causing the perception amoungst cyclists that these are really dangerous places, is the vast majority of driver's habit of nosing into the Lower Don Recreation Trail (or completely blocking it) almost every time drivers make turns onto the LSB at these three intersections.

I watched for an hour and a half as drivers - confronted with so many vectors (and different qualities of vectors - cyclists at one set of speeds, joggers and at another speed) actually make mistakes - and force cyclists to brakes or steer evasively to avoid being hit as the driver slams on their brakes also - just in time to avoid collisions.

In these two videos I use the camera to imitate how a driver in a car sees the intersection, by standing where a driver would be seated with their car stopped at various places - behind the stop line; halfway into the Trail; and right across the trail - in order to understand what's going on:

PART I

LDRT/Logan - Driver Sight Lines I 2014/08/27 6 39pm


A multitude of sign posts to the east of the Logan/LDRT intersection blocks driver's sightlines to the east - obscuring high speed motor vehicle traffic speeding off the light at Carlaw. This seems to be the reason drivers are moving forward such that they block the entire width of the Lower Don Recreation Trail here as they try to make their turns westbound onto the Lake Shore Boulevard.

PART II

In the second of these videos I talk about a great conversation I had with a driver, a resident nearby, who noted a West sight lines issue that I hadn't seen. From a driver's point of view, a fence blocks their view of cyclists coming eastbound towards the intersection:

LDRT/Logan - Driver Sight Lines II 2014/08/27 7:21pm


A fence to the west of the Logan/LDRT intersection blocks driver's sightlines to the west - obscuring cyclists coming eastbound on the LDRT. This seems to be one of the reasons drivers are nosing halfway across the Lower Don Recreation Trail here as they try to make their turns westbound onto the Lake Shore Boulevard.



mh

LSB/LDRT Intersection Hazards

LSB/LDRT Intersection Hazards



.. I end with "..it's a big problem ... at Morse..." - and I go on to say (as my battery over-heats) - 'at Logan and Booth.'

That is - Conflicts between Drivers and Trail Users - where the motor vehicle drivers are nosing into the Lower Don Recreation Trail (or completely blocking it) as they try to make a dangerous and heart pounding merge onto the fast Lake Shore Boulevard from these small side streets.

In some cases I watched as the driver, confronted with so many vectors - and different qualities of vectors (cyclists at one set of speeds, joggers and at another speed...) - that they actually make mistakes and force cyclists to slam on their brakes of steer evasively to avoid being hit as the driver slams on their brakes just in time.

More videos on this are coming right up.

I spent 2 hours at Logan/LSB/LDRT tonight (Wednesday, August 27, 2014) between when this video was shot( at 5:24 pm) til about 7:30pm.

I saw the switch from commute cyclists dominating the traffic pulses along the LDRT, to recreation cyclists dominating the flows. The numbers never decreased. And all the while, motor vehicle traffic maintained a steady volume - both on the Lake Shore Boulevard and motor vehicle drivers using Logan southbound to get onto the LSB.

Very interesting.

Thinking that making Logan a through-street down to Commissioners with a signaled intersection at LSB, might be the best way to solve all this.

'Almosts' (bikes getting almost hit by cars) happen every few minutes at Logan. At the signaled intersections - like Carlaw - 'almosts' happen *just* once an hour. :\



mh

@PaulaFletcher30 to address Lower Don Accessibility Issue at Parks & Environment Committee, Friday, August 15

Councillor Fletcher, Ward 30 Toronto-Danforth, is petitioning at Committee to pass a motion asking for a study and a report-back on accessible connections to the neighbourhoods from the Lower Don Trail - at the Parks and Environment Committee meeting on Friday, August 15, 2014.

The Councillor will talk to concerns a group of us advocates raised this spring about the lack of Accessible Connections (Ramps) from the Bridges that cross the Don Valley down to the LDT below the Viaduct (Dundas, Gerrard and the Riverdale Park Pedestrian Bridge).

It sets the stage for a possible ramp build in the future - she's requesting that:
(quoting)

1) The City re-confirms its commitment to accessibility on the Lower Don Trail.
2) Further study be undertaken on potential points of access onto the Lower Don Trail in particular the pedestrian bridge joining Riverdale Park East and West.
3) Report to P and E in Q2, 2015 on the results.
.
The motion needs our community support.

You can write to the clerk in charge of communications for the Committee to make a written deputation right away - or you can request time on the agenda to speak to the issue on the 15th in Committee Room 1 at City Hall (meeting starts at 9am - meeting agenda is not yet posted).

Email the Committee: pec@toronto.ca
In the title of your email be sure to include this phrase:
"2014.PE29 - Re: Lower Don Trail Accessibility"


Secretariat Contact:
Carol Kaustinen
10th floor, West Tower, City Hall
100 Queen Street West
Toronto, ON M5H 2N2

email: pec@toronto.ca
phone: 416-338-5089
fax: 416-392-1879

TMMIS address for Parks and Environment Committee meeting of August 15, 2014 (Meeting 29): http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/decisionBodyProfile.do?function=doPrepare&decisionBodyId=368#Meeting-2014.PE29
.

Michael Holloway
Ward 30 Bikes


Here's a copy of Councillor Fletcher's letter to the Committee:

July 23, 2014

Councillor Mammoliti and Members
Parks & Environment Committee

Dear Committee Members:

Re: Lower Don Trail Accessibility

The Lower Don Trail has limited accessibility from Queen Street to Danforth Avenue.

Currently there are stairs at Queen as well as the Riverdale foot bridge. While there is a trench to wheel a bicycle up and down the stairs it is awkward and cumbersome. Many riders simply carry their bikes up the stairs. Trail access and egress at these points is limited to those who can manage their bicycles on the steep incline.

As part of the Lower Don Trail Master Plan there will be two new stair entrances; one from Dundas and one from Gerrard onto the trail.

In May, I had a site meeting on the trail with staff from DTAH, TRCA, PFR and members of the cycling committee to review the Master Plan for the Lower Don trail and to see if the new stairway entrances at Gerrard and Dundas could be made more accessible for cyclists, and anyone with mobility issues. Both of the locations are on street car routes and of course our new street cars will be fully accessible.

Sadly, it was not deemed possible at either of these locations.

There remains a real need for an accessible point on the trail between Queen and Danforth and it was suggested that the pedestrian bridge from Riverdale Park East to West may be a good option.

I am requesting that:

1. The City re-confirms its commitment to accessibility on the Lower Don Trail.
2. Further study be undertaken on potential points of access onto the Lower Don Trail in particular the pedestrian bridge joining Riverdale Park East and West.
3. Report to P and E in Q2, 2015 on the results.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,


Councillor Paula Fletcher, Ward 30

mh