Over the past few months, the City of Toronto has been very busy installing new bike lanes across the city. Since I had the day off work and had some errands to run before going on vacation in two weeks, I checked out the Portland-Dan Leckie and West Parkdale cycling connections, as well as the progress of the Bloor and St. George protected intersection.
Portland – Dan Leckie
Per the latest City of Toronto update, the Portland Street portion of the bikeway will not be installed until 2025 due to Metrolinx work on the Ontario Line. However, there has been some work on the Dan Leckie Way stretch south of the Puente de Luz pictured above. Here is the current west side crosswalk which will have a waiting area added to the left of the crosswalk for people cycling.
The Puente de Luz is a decent crossing of the railway tracks.
The stretch from Fort York to Lake Shore Boulevards already has a trail which cyclists can use, but a bi-directional cycle track will be installed on the roadway.
The bi-directional cycle track is only finished under the Gardiner Expressway, though the rest of Dan Leckie Way from Puente de Luz to Queens Quay is expected to be done by October.
Here’s the cycle track looking north from Lake Shore Boulevard.
The Bentway Staging Grounds can be found east of Dan Leckie Way under the Gardiner.
En Route to Parkdale
After checking the Portland-Dan Leckie bikeway, I took Wellington and passed by Garrison Crossing.
The bikeway continues west of Strachan where it becomes Douro Street.
Two sets of bi-directional cycle tracks appear at the pedestrian bridge just before King Street. It turned out the cycle tracks are being relocated to the north side to accommodate the development at 1071 King Street West.
In true Toronto fashion, no bike ride is complete without a motor vehicle blocking the bike lane. This was on the recently completed Gladstone bike lanes.
I’m not a fan of how the bike lane is placed in the door zone between the traffic lane and parked cars.
Why is there a “bike lane ends” sign when the contraflow bike lane continues past Peel Street? Nice touch of protection, though.
The Gladstone contraflow north of Waterloo is how not to design a contraflow. Instead of placing it between the parking and traffic lanes, the parking lane needs to always be on the opposite side of the contraflow.
West Parkdale Cycling Connections
One project which has gotten some negative media coverage lately is the West Parkdale Cycling Connections which members of Parkdale High Park Bikes advocated for at least a decade. A fair number of those opposed to the project focused on the direction switch on Macdonell between Garden and Fern. While I understand the City was aiming to reduce motor vehicle volumes with this move, I felt it wasn’t necessary to achieve the objective of a Seaforth-Macdonell-Galley bikeway.
Here’s what Seaforth looks like at Brock Street.
A similar setup was done at O’Hara Street on both sides. Sorry the photo wasn’t that clear.
Contraflow bike lanes can be found on Seaforth both west and east of Lansdowne.
Contraflow sharrows were added on Macdonell to remind cyclists they can travel northbound without a formal bike lane.
Galley Avenue had some watermain work done which is why the contraflow from Macdonell to Roncesvalles wasn’t completed yet. The City is hoping to complete this project in September.
The contraflow is completed west of Roncesvalles.
When I was in the area two weeks ago for a dentist appointment, I noticed the Sunnyside to Queensway stretch was completed. The conversion of one block of Sunnyside from Galley to Pearson to one way pictured here was the other main source of contention for this project.
Bloor and St. George
At Bloor and St. George, the paving of the protection intersection was well under way. Here is a photo of the intersection looking eastbound.
It was easier to get all four corner islands visible when looking westbound.
When I checked out the intersection on Wednesday, the concrete layer was being poured in. Look forward to seeing this intersection reopen on Monday.
Looking Forward
In addition to Portland-Dan Leckie, West Parkdale, and Bloor and St. George, there have been several other projects coming down the pipe. The City of Toronto shared several posts on Twitter about Sheppard Avenue East (below) and Ferrand Drive, while Steeprock-Bathurst Manor and eglintonTOday (Avenue to Chaplin) are also expected very soon. May have to do another round of site checks when I get back from vacation. 😉
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
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