Woodbine bike lanes here to stay despite controversy, councillor says
Controversy has erupted over the new cycle tracks, which were approved last year as part of the city’s new 10-year bike plan

TheStar.com
Oct. 1, 2017
Ben Spurr

A battle over bike lanes is boiling over in Toronto’s east end.

Just three weeks after the city installed separated cycle tracks on a 3.7-kilometre stretch of Woodbine Ave., more than 3,000 people have signed a petition demanding Mayor John Tory have them removed.

Critics complain that the project has caused increased traffic congestion on Woodbine, and drivers are darting dangerously onto side streets to avoid it.

They also charge that the city didn’t adequately consult the community about the plans, and they claim there aren’t enough cyclists on Woodbine to justify designated lanes. According to cycling counts from May 2016, daytime cyclist volume on the street was between 150 and 200 cyclists per day.

Among the more outspoken critics is Warren Kinsella, the former federal Liberal strategist, who lives on a residential street off Woodbine. He’s likened the backlash to “a citizen’s revolt.”

“My street’s turned into a speedway,” he told a talk radio station recently. “And the concern, obviously, is a kid might get hit or hurt, or worse. It’s really created quite a mess of the neighbourhood.”

Proponents of the lanes say such concerns are overblown.

“It’s a knee-jerk reaction. It’s a NIMBY response,” said Mary Ann Neary, a leader of local cycling advocacy group 32 Spokes. She’s one of nearly 2,000 people who have signed a competing petition urging city hall to keep the lanes.

She argued that the cycle tracks have made the community safer for children, not more dangerous.

“I now actually see kids riding their bikes on the Woodbine bike lane... They now actually have a safe option to travel in the area,” she said.

The Woodbine lanes, which run from O’Connor Dr. to Queen St. E., were identified as a key cycling route in the city’s 10-year cycling plan council passed in June 2016.

They’re currently the only north-south separated bike lanes east of the downtown core, and they connect to key east-west cycling routes, as well as to bike lanes proposed on Danforth Ave.

Although the lanes aren’t packed with cyclists yet, Neary argues that, as the connectivity of Toronto’s bike infrastructure improves, they will induce demand.

“The whole thing we’re trying to do here is to get people who want to consider an alternate way to (get around the city) to be able to see themselves actually doing it in a safe way. That sometimes takes a little time,” she said.

The Woodbine project, as well as two much shorter lanes proposed for Corley and Norway Aves., are projected to cost an estimated $400,000 to install.

The configuration of the lanes varies; some sections of Woodbine incorporate a barrier in the form of flexi-post bollards, while others offer no more protection than painted “sharrows” on the pavement.

In general, car traffic has been reduced to one lane in each direction, with dedicated left-turn lanes at major intersections.

The design was “anticipated to provide sufficient capacity for accommodating traffic-flow,” according to a report that went before council. But longer traffic cues were expected at four major intersections, which staff have attempted to mitigate by retiming signals.

Jacquelyn Hayward Gulati, the city’s director of transportation infrastructure management, said her department is aware thousands of people oppose the bike lanes and “we’re working to mitigate their concerns.”

She acknowledged city staff have observed congestion at the afternoon rush hour, but said some of the problem is a result of water-main work and streetcar track replacement at nearby Coxwell Ave. and Queen.

Her department plans to conduct a traffic study on Woodbine next spring and “make additional changes, as deemed necessary,” Gulati said.

“We’re not just slapping them down and walking away; we absolutely will monitor the situation,” said local Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon (Ward 32 Beaches-East York), a vocal proponent of the lanes.

In response to claims that public consultation was inadequate, McMahon said the city sent out more than 35,000 flyers and held two public meetings, and she and the other councillor representing the project-area knocked on every door on Woodbine.

“I can’t see what else we could have done besides actually sitting down for dinner with every resident,” said McMahon.

While cities such as Montreal and New York have pursued new cycling infrastructure aggressively in recent years, there is precedent in Toronto for removing bike lanes; most famously, in 2012, under then mayor Rob Ford. the city spent about $300,000 to scrub out the Jarvis St. bike lanes. Under Ford, who campaigned against the “war on the car,” the city also removed bike lanes on Pharmacy Ave. and Birchmount Rd. in Scarborough.

McMahon is adamant there won’t be a repeat on Woodbine; the new bike lanes are “locked and sealed into our 10-year cycling plan,” she said, which she added is key to improving bike safety and meeting the city’s climate change goals.

“We’re not ripping anything out from the cycling plan,” said McMahon.

“They’re going to stay put.”