New plan would add 525 km of bike routes to create a true Toronto network

Depending on annual funding, the massive expansion could be close to complete in 10 years.

Thestar.com
May 9, 2016
By Ben Spurr

Bike lanes could be coming to eight of Toronto’s busiest streets if the city’s new 10-year cycling plan pans out.

The plan, released in a city report Monday, identifies 525 km of new bike lanes, cycle tracks, trails and other routes that, if built, would create the kind of connected network Toronto’s bike advocates have long pushed for.

The majority of that infrastructure, some 280 km, would be in the form of painted or physically separated bike lanes on busy streets, while 190 km of it would be cycling routes on quieter roads. The remaining 55 km would be “sidewalk-level boulevard trails” running alongside major thoroughfares. The plan would cost an estimated $153.5 million over the next decade.

“Over a 10-year period we would roughly look at doubling the amount of cycling routes in the city,” said Stephen Buckley, the city’s general manager of transportation services. He said that to date the city’s planning of its bike network has been disjointed, and his goal was to “develop a full network that we could get behind.”

The guiding principles are connecting existing cycling routes, expanding the network, and improving infrastructure already in place, Buckley said.

Perhaps the most striking feature is a proposal to study bike infrastructure on eight major corridors, including Bloor St./Dupont St. from Dundas St. to Sherbourne St.; Danforth Ave. from Broadview Ave. to Kingston Rd.; and Yonge St. all the way from Steeles to Front St., almost the full length of the city.

While the report noted these corridors could be good candidates for cycling routes, Buckley stressed it would take further study to conclude whether it’s feasible to install bike lanes on them.

“We recognize these ones are going to be particularly complicated and complex, and all of them warrant adequate stakeholder consultation and outreach before we decide on a path forward,” he said.

Other major projects include five tunnels or bridges to allow cyclists to cross the Don River, Highway 401 and a railway line, the extension of the West Toronto Railpath, and a new trail along Lake Shore Blvd. in the downtown core.

Although a host of projects is slated for the centre of the city, there is no shortage of new bikeways proposed for the suburbs, including a trail along Warden Ave. in Scarborough, and bike lanes along Sheppard East, Finch West, Kipling Ave. and Eglinton Ave. The plan also proposes dozens of smaller connecting routes in every corner of the city.

Despite its scope, the bike plan leaves many details undecided. Although it identifies potential routes for cycling infrastructure, more work would have to be done to determine what kind of infrastructure would be built.

According to the report, main roads might warrant a painted or physically separated lane, while on quieter streets dedicated bicycle facilities might not be necessary and pavement markings or signage could suffice. Even if council endorses the plan, the design of each individual project would have to come back for approval.

Staff also left funding levels up to councillors, giving them five options to fund the plan at levels of between $8 million and $25 million a year. Staff recommended funding of $16 million a year, which would be enough to deliver about 85 per cent of the 10-year plan. The report said the rest could be completed using anticipated transportation funding from provincial or federal governments.

Councillor Mike Layton (Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina) said he would urge council to allocate $25 million a year to the blueprint. At that level, the plan could be completed in six to seven years, according to city staff.

“It is a major piece of infrastructure build-out for active transportation, and I support however we can get there the fastest,” Layton said.

“If we’re really serious about trying to build out a cycling network for the city, then we’re going to need to find more resources to pay for it.”

The new document replaces the city-wide bike plan council endorsed in 2001, which called for completing 495 km of bike lanes by 2011. The city fell well short of that target, and currently has only 131 km of on-street bike lanes or separated cycle tracks, according to the latest report.

Jared Kolb, executive director of Cycle Toronto, said there is greater political will for building cycling infrastructure now than a decade ago. He cited the lopsided 38-3 council vote last week that gave the green light to a pilot bike-lane project on a stretch of Bloor St.

“I think the rhetoric has moved beyond that ‘war on the car’ mantra, and has moved into imagining and realizing that cycling is a crucial way to get Toronto moving,” Kolb said. “There’s a project in every ward; there is something on this plan that every councillor wants to see.”

But not all councillors are enthusiastic. Councillor Stephen Holyday (Ward 3, Etobicoke Centre) said he supports more cycling infrastructure in the city, but only where it makes sense.

“I hold a very high test for any time there’s an attempt to take out a live lane of traffic. We live in a very congested city as it is,” said Holyday, who sits on the public works committee.

“Often you are inconveniencing the majority for the desires of the minority, if the ridership is low.”

The report will be debated at the public works committee next Monday, and could go before council in June.

THE DETAILS

The 10-year plan calls for studies of bike infrastructure on eight major corridors: Kipling Ave., Yonge St., Bloor St., Danforth Ave., Jane St., Kingston Rd., Midland Ave. and Lake Shore Blvd. West. The roads, which represent 100 km of the proposed 525 km plan, would be divided up into 17 separate segments and evaluated by city transportation staff for the feasibility of installing bikeways.

A major challenge to creating a connected cycling network in Toronto is the many ravines, rivers, and railway lines that break up the city. The 10-year plan would overcome those obstacles with four bridges that would cross the Don River (one at Overlea Bridge and another at Eastern Ave.), Highway 401 at Yonge St., and the GO rail line south of Downsview Park. A tunnel under Highway 401 would also connect Lowcrest Blvd. to the Warden Ave. corridor in Scarborough.

About 55 km of the new infrastructure would be “sidewalk level boulevard trails” built alongside major roadways like Warden Ave., Dufferin St., and Midland Ave. The plan also incorporates about 40 km of trails set out in the city’s 2012 Bikeways Trails Plan, which could see the West Toronto Railpath extended north and south, and connections made to existing trails in the Don and Humber Valleys.

Aside from potential bike lanes on Yonge St., the plan doesn’t offer a whole lot in the way of new major downtown routes, but incorporates existing pilot projects on Richmond St. and Adelaide St., which could be made permanent and extended. It also proposes new bike infrastructure on Palmerston Ave., and farther west on Dovercourt Rd.

Taking into account previously announced proposals, there is plenty of bike infrastructure planned for the suburbs, including possible bikeways on Finch Ave. West, Bellamy Ave., Sheppard Ave. East, and much of Eglinton Ave. Many smaller routes would connect existing bike lanes and trails, forming links that are essential to creating a viable network.