Ontario to spend up to $42.5 million this year on cycling infrastructure

The new program, announced as a review of the trail where a 5-year-old boy lost his life is underway, will pay up to 80% of the cost of cycling projects, such as painted and physically separated bike lanes, intersection modifications and bike racks.

Thestar.com
May 29, 2017
By Ben Spurr

The provincial government has launched a new program to invest millions of dollars in bicycle infrastructure in municipalities across Ontario.

Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca and Eleanor McMahon, minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, made the announcement at a downtown Canadian Tire store on Monday to coincide with Bike to Work Day.

The announcement came days after the importance of safe cycling infrastructure was tragically underscored by the death of a 5-year-old boy, who was killed while riding on a Toronto waterfront trail.

“Our government is committed to making cycling safer. This is an extremely serious undertaking on the part of our government,” said Del Duca.

“This investment will help promote safety for cyclists and make cycling more comfortable and more appealing for daily commutes and other frequent trips,” he said, citing a survey that found 67 per cent of Ontarians would be more likely to ride a bike if their community had better cycling infrastructure.

The four-year Ontario Municipal Cycling Commuter Program will provide up to $42.5 million to eligible municipalities this year and is funded out of the province’s cap-and-trade program. Funding for future years “will be determined based on availability of cap and trade proceeds,” according to the government.

The program will pay for up to 80 per cent of the cost of cycling projects. To be eligible, projects must focus on enabling bicycle commuting and reducing car trips. The types of projects that qualify include painted and physically separated bike lanes, multi-use paths, intersection modifications and bike racks.

The program will be split into two streams, one for medium and large municipalities, and one for smaller municipalities with populations of less than 15,000.

To be eligible for funding, larger municipalities must show that they are working to implement a cycling plan. Funding for smaller municipalities will be capped at $25,000 a year, and the existence of a cycling plan is not a prerequisite.

It was not immediately clear how much Toronto could receive through the cycling fund.

Five-year-old Xavier Morgan died last Wednesday evening when he was riding his bike along the Martin Goodman Trail. Police say he fell into traffic on Lake Shore Blvd. and was hit by a driver.

Safety advocates argue his death could have been prevented if there had been a simple barrier between the trail and the roadway, which is regularly busy with fast-moving traffic.

Mayor John Tory has ordered a review of Toronto’s 300-kilometre network of multi-use trails, and on Monday public works chair Councillor Jaye Robinson met with Barbara Gray, the city’s general manager of transportation services, to discuss the issue.

Afterwards Gray said she expected that by the end of the week city staff will have completed a safety review of the location of last week’s fatal crash, near Jameson Ave. and Lake Shore Blvd. W. She said safety measures like a barrier could be installed soon after that.

However, Gray said in terms of width, setbacks from traffic and curb separation, the design of the trail is “far in excess of standards,” although the proximity to the roadway can make people feel “uncomfortable.”

She noted that the Martin Goodman Trail is used by 3,000 to 5,000 cyclists a day and there has never been a fatal collision of this kind.

“I just want to underscore that while this has been a tragic, tragic incident ... the Martin Goodman Trail is not an unsafe facility,” she said.