Earlier this week, the City of Toronto started construction of bike lanes on Avenue Road from Bloor Street to Davenport Road. Since I had the day off today and had some errands to run, I decided to check them out on the way home, as well as provide an update on the Bloor bike lane construction between Spadina Avenue and Avenue Road which is in its final stages.
 |
| The City of Toronto's plan for Avenue Road from Bloor to Davenport |
Avenue Road
The start of the Avenue Road bike lanes is marked with Miguel Joshua Escanan’s ghost bike who was killed at Avenue and Bloor in August 2021. While only painted bike lanes were used right next to the church including the ghost bike, it does feel a lot safer not having to deal with six lanes of traffic.
The bike lane shifts a bit to the left between Cumberland Street and Yorkville Avenue due to some construction in the area. Per an update I got from Kanchan after the post went live, the curbs will be put in next week.
Construction hoarding has been put up to protect pedestrians just north of Yorkville Avenue.
At Elgin Avenue, the bike lane appeared to go through the barriers, but I was informed they are owned by the developer and will be removed.
Some bike lane crossings have yet to be painted in such as at the Whole Foods parking lot entrance.
Just past that intersection lies the ghost bike for Ali Sezgin Armagan who was killed in April. RIP.
While bike lane construction started two and a half months after his death, it shouldn’t take a cyclist’s death for cities to make streets such as Avenue Road safer; let alone three within nine years.
A taxi stand was placed near the Hazelton Place Retirement Residence. However, the City of Toronto should have instead moved the bike lane curbside and maybe put in a Zicla platform to facilitate taxi loading to improve safety. I was since informed this will be worked on.
The City of Toronto put up lots of signs saying a new bikeway was coming soon on Avenue Road.
The bikeway ends at Davenport Road, but some pedestrian improvements are expected to be done this fall from Davenport to Dupont Street. Albert Koehl with Community Bikeways criticized this piecemeal approach for Avenue Road in this Spacing article.
The northeast corner of Avenue and Dupont lies Adam Excell’s ghost bike who was killed in June 2015.
Here are some more construction photos Kanchan with the City of Toronto’s Cycling and Pedestrian Unit shared on Twitter/X.
Lanes are down and bike lanes are going in.
— kanchan 🍿 (@inHrEye) July 17, 2024
Lines should be all done tomorrow night, curbs/concrete to follow. https://t.co/0Y4emgy68M pic.twitter.com/RM6Bb30fgN
Bloor Street
Before riding on Avenue Road, I checked out Bloor Street from Spadina to Avenue given construction activity there. Here is the Bloor and Spadina intersection which has been recently repaved and is expected to open on Monday after being closed for the past week.
The Huron intersection was repaved from July 8 to 15 and features some bicycle signals in all four directions.
Here’s another photo of Huron looking westbound.
The Bloor and St. George intersection – where Dalia Chako was killed in June 2018 – will be closed starting on Monday for a week. Unlike the other intersections, this one will get a protected intersection.
Finally, bicycle signals have been put in at Bedford Road in all directions.
Other Construction News
Avenue Road and Bloor Street are not the only bike related construction projects happening right now. Work on the Ferrand Drive Area Safety Improvements started on July 2 while the City of Toronto shared these photos of work happening on Sheppard Avenue from Bonnington Place to Bayview Avenue.
Installation of Sheppard Avenue East Complete Street is ongoing west of Bayview Avenue, with the addition of cycle tracks on the north side. The cycle tracks will be added on the south side following signal upgrades, with paving taking place on both sides in August. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/CnetSaGLYC
— Toronto Cycling and Pedestrian Projects (@TO_Cycling_Ped) July 18, 2024
The West Parkdale Cycling Connections is expected to start in August along with some parts of the eglintonTOday project from Bathurst Street to Avenue Road. However, the bulk of the project is contingent on the opening of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT which Metrolinx still refuses to provide an opening date! The City expects this to happen in Spring 2025.
Thanks to the City of Toronto’s Cycling and Pedestrian Unit for carrying out these improvements as well as to the advocates and councillors who supported them over the years. Hope to see some of you at tomorrow’s Meadoway Ride.
No comments:
Post a Comment