The past few weeks have been pretty stressful. Not just for work, but also Doug Ford’s war on bikes via Bill 212 while Donald Trump being voted back to the White House didn’t help matters either. Given the need to use up some vacation days and blow off some steam, I took today off and used the morning to do an 85-kilometre bike ride to Brampton and back.
On the way, I stopped by Hot Oven Bakery for some coffee, an almond pretzel, and a loaf of bread. I then took a path through Tom Riley Park to get to Burnamthorpe on the way to the West Deane Trail. That street just east of Kipling was the sight of Navjot Kaur’s ghost bike who died back in August.
In all seriousness, the West Deane and Tom Riley Park Trails need to be connected for safer passage despite the Islington Golf Club separating the two.
Along the Eglinton West Trail, Metrolinx has an ad claiming the 6.3 km tunnel for the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension is completed. Yet they still won’t give us a damn opening date for the Eglinton Crosstown itself?
Some more construction activity by Renforth bus station which will be the western extension’s terminus until the line can be further extended to Pearson Airport.
While you can bike on the Etobicoke Creek Trail from Eglinton under Highway 401, I found this fence blocking the trail. Had to lift my road bike over the guard rail onto Range Road to get around this closure.
Here’s some flooding damage that can be seen past the fence.
This trail section is really bad!
More fencing to block access to the trail.
Range Road and Britannia Road may only have two lanes, but also narrow shoulders and a lot of truck activity. Sadly, there was another ghost bike for Steve Hancock who was killed at Britannia and Courtneypark in June 2016.
After getting back onto the Etobicoke Creek Trail at Britannia Road, you can see planes taking off from Pearson every few minutes.
Since the last time I biked in Brampton in April 2021, the City of Mississauga installed a multi-use path on the east side of Cardiff Boulevard from Derry Road to the Mount Charles Park parking lot.
A truck apron can be found at Cardiff and Khalsa. Something we can use more of in industrial areas to slow down motorists while still accommodating wide turns from tractor-trailers.
A signalized crossing has been added at Kennedy Road in Brampton to make navigating the trail a lot easier.
A “bike lane coming soon” sign can be seen on Bartley Bull Parkway to ger around a gap in the Etobicoke Creek Trail by the Peel Village Golf Course.
This arch bridge by Main Street and Peel Village Parkway is simple but nice.
This new red bridge provides a connection to Mill Street which stands out!
The Etobicoke Creek Trail is blocked off just past Centennial Park. At this point, I chose to turn back. There were some stairs to the right of this image.
A short gap exists in the Etobicoke Creek Trail around Queen Street. Would have been nice to fill that in to allow for a continuous path all the way to Caledon.
Overall, the Etobicoke Creek Trail in Brampton is very good. In addition to good lighting, there are no shortage of benches which Toronto could use more of on their trails.
However, the City of Brampton could use repairing the asphalt on a short section just east of Tomken Road.
On the way back, there were two things that bothered me when I arrived at Britannia Road. The first is there wasn’t a single sign saying the trail was closed ahead and/or the suggested detour.
The other thing was it turned out bicycles were not allowed to use Britannia and Range Roads to get around the trail closure.
The suggested detour was 5.4 kilometres using Britannia, Dixie, Matheson, and Sismet. Given the lack of cycling infrastructure on Dixie Road – especially when crossing Highway 401 – I rather risk going on Britannia and Range which is three kilometres shorter.
While making Dixie Road safer at Highway 401 requires provincial approval, the bare minimum the City of Mississauga could do is to better communicate these detours. In addition to a sign at Britannia Road, another one is needed to get to the Sismet Road connection.
As winter gets closer, please take every advantage to get out and ride! It’s a great way to relieve stress from whatever life throws at us.
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