Final Bikeway Tally for 2022

It’s hard to believe, but another year has just about come and gone. The City of Toronto’s Pedestrian and Cycling Unit recently tweeted that this year saw approximately 20 kilometres of new bikeways and upgrades to another 20 kilometres. When I crunched the numbers based on some information provided by the City, I determined the final number of new bikeways to be closer to 13 kilometres. A far cry from the 30 kilometres installed in 2020 and 20 kilometres in 2021, but there were some notable additions to highlight.

Danforth at Victoria Park Avenue in July 2022

Along the Bloor-Danforth corridor, the Danforth bike lanes were extended east to the Scarborough border at Victoria Park Avenue, while a short gap on Bloor Street under the West Toronto Railpath has finally been filled in! Unfortunately, parts of the Bloor bike lane under the Barrie GO corridor (just west of Lansdowne Avenue) and near Sherbourne Street have been closed for construction. My new councillor – Dianne Saxe – recently had a motion approved by City Council requesting a report on keeping Bloor Street safe for people who bike during construction which is expected to return to council in March.

Bloor at Dundas in October 2022

Consultations for the next round of extension for the Bloor bike lanes are expected to happen in the New Year; the details for which will be shared once they are publicly available. To the east, a new group called Bells on Kingston was established in July 2022 calling for the Danforth bike lanes to be extended into Scarborough to Kingston Road and beyond. Extending Danforth could be a challenge given recently re-elected Councillor Gary Crawford was responsible for removing bike lanes on Birchmount, Pharmacy, and Brimley.

Another bikeway which has been under construction since last year is along the surface portion of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. The City counted the stretch from Don Mills to Birchmount Roads as completed last year, while this year saw the completion of the surface section from Brentcliffe to Kennedy Roads. Public consultations were held for eglintonTOday earlier this year which could have seen protected bike lanes installed from Keele Street to Mount Pleasant Road as early as next year. Unfortunately, a 2024 (or even 2025) installation timeframe is more likely given further LRT construction delays from Metrolinx and the Crosslinx consortium.

Eglinton at Leslie in July 2022

Neighbourhood bikeways were a more significant focus for this year with Bartlett-Havelock-Gladstone and Palmerston-Tecumseth – both expected to be completed next year – as well as the completion of the Woodfield bikeway. North York saw the southern extension of the Willowdale cycle track to Sheppard, as well as a new cycle track on Cummer Avenue. Scarborough gained a new path along the Morningside Avenue extension, as well as cycle tracks on Steeles Avenue under the Stouffville GO line.

Steeles has a couple of additional installations planned in the future such as from Midland Avenue to McCowan Road, as well as from Tapscott Road to Donald Cousens Parkway. Maybe Steeles will one day see a bikeway along the entirety of Toronto’s northern boundary?

Steeles near Kennedy (via @JayBeeGooner)

Adding this year’s 13 kilometres brings the grand total for Mayor John Tory’s first two terms (2015-22) to 101 kilometres; an uninspiring record compared to Montréal’s recent goal to install 200 kilometres from 2023 to 2027. This year’s installations also make completing the 100 kilometres proposed from 2022 to 2024 increasingly unlikely without a significant boost. Having said that, there are several projects to keep an eye open for in 2023 such as the following:

• The Queensway (Humber River to Burma Drive)
• Martin Grove (Rathburn to Burnamthorpe)
• Bloor West (Runnymede to Royal York; with a further extension to Six Points possible by 2024)
• Sheppard East (Bonnington Place to Bayview; with a further extension to Leslie by 2023-24)
• Wellington (Bathurst to Blue Jays Way)
• The Esplanade (George to Yonge; dependent on work at St. Lawrence Market)
• Sentinel (Sheppard to Dovehouse; plus upgrades from Dovehouse to Lamberton)
• Chesswood (Sheppard to Champagne)
• Steeles (Midland to McCowan; in conjunction with reconstruction from Midland to Brimley)
• East Don Trail Phase 1 (Taylor Creek to Gatineau Hydro Corridor; depending on progress with Metrolinx tunnel and bridge work)

Another thing I am curious about is whether the City’s breakneck pace of public consultations this year will continue into 2023. I will continue to do consultation roundups as meeting dates are announced.

One last thing I believe will help pressure Toronto to accelerate their bikeway rollout is Bike Share Toronto’s latest expansion plan. By 2025, the bike share program is expected to have 10,000 bikes and 1,000 stations in all 25 wards per the below image. E-bikes are expected to make up 2,000 of the 10,000 bikes. Assuming this expansion follows through, expect even this year’s record-breaking year of almost 4.5 million rides to be dwarfed in the New Year.

Planned 2022-25 Bike Share Expansion (via Bike Share Toronto)

May you and your loved ones have a Merry Christmas and let’s keep holding the City accountable.

The Toronto Community Bikeways Coalition's annual Cycling Good Cheer ride