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The worst roads for cyclists in Toronto, redux

Posted by Chris Bateman / July 12, 2012

31 Comments

toronto save bike laneBack in August 2009, we asked our readers to list the worst roads for cyclists in the city. There was plenty of choice - frankly - and those who responded cited door prize dodging on Queen West, crater crashing on Pottery Road and the bone rattling experience of riding on Dufferin among the worst offenders.

Three years on, it's time we took stock of the quality of the city's streets from a cyclist's perspective once again. We threw the debate to Twitter and collected some of the best or most frequent suggestions in the list below. I've also included a list of the roads I personally avoid as best I can. Do you agree with my choices?

SHERBOURNE

It might have a bike lane, but riding down this street is like being repeatedly slammed in the crotch (literally and metaphorically). With the imminent demise of lanes on Jarvis, Sherbourne will be getting its promised upgrade to fully separated lanes. Not a moment too soon.

BLOOR-DANFORTH

A few stencils on the road ain't gonna cut it - riding along the busier sections of Bloor Street or Danforth Avenue is like running the gauntlet. Swerving cabs, stray pedestrians and thundering traffic make this popular cycling street tough to love in rush hour. The insane bike lane over the Don Valley on-ramp at Broadview is worth a mention, too.

DUFFERIN

Oh, Dufferin. Perennially despised by motorists and cyclists alike for its shoddy road surface, the street regularly tops lists of the worst roads in the province. Everything about riding here is wrong unless you've got a nifty full-suspension bike. And even then you'll probably go home with a spinal injury.

KING

Streetcar tracks are an enemy of the skinny-tired cyclist. Though they usually aren't a problem positioned as they are in the middle of the road, the cerbside parking on King forces cyclists closer to the transit lane and closer to peril. Throw in dense rush hour traffic and it's a recipe for disaster. I haven't had a door hit me yet, but King is where it always feels close.

DUNDAS

Though it's not so bad in the east end (it even has a bike lane) Dundas gets all Mr. Hyde at various stretches downtown. The line up of traffic waiting to cross Spadina, University and Yonge always feels like an accident waiting to happen. The section before Bathurst near Kensington Market is like crazy paving installed by a someone with in a furious temper.

So there you have it, my two cents. Here is a selection of your worst cycling roads as seen on Twitter. Feel free to throw in any more suggestions in the comment section. Whinge on!

Photo: "Jarvis Bike Lane Stencil" by Martin Reis in the blogTO Flickr pool.

Discussion

31 Comments

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eastender / July 12, 2012 at 02:34 pm
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gerrard between yonge and broadview is one of the bumpiest rides you can get.
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wtfskies / July 12, 2012 at 02:38 pm
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dupont between christie and bathurst is up there with dundas between spadina and bathurst.

as far as pure danger on the road goes, college between clinton and crawford is probably the most likely ped and door corridor downtown.

the abandoned streetcar tracks on adelaide are pretty brutal too, makes it tough to change lanes and get ready for a turn, especially when there's a thousand cabs and construction on both sides.
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gogo / July 12, 2012 at 02:48 pm
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Riding westbound on Danforth from Broadview to Donlands - many bumps, broken glass and speeding cars.
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Jer / July 12, 2012 at 02:54 pm
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I second sherbourne! It's in terrible shape.

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Ben / July 12, 2012 at 03:00 pm
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"I never have any issues because I plan my routes according to the city's well-organized and convenient bike lanes," said no one.
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Matt / July 12, 2012 at 03:06 pm
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I see a lot of people in the twitter responses mentioning the Lansdowne-College-Dundas area. That's definitely one of the worst for me. Crazy potholes and bumps everywhere, streetcar tracks in every perceivable direction, not to mention streetcars, and the infamous and dreaded rail overpass on Dundas between College and Sorauren.

Add to this the fact that there are a lot of cyclists meeting up here during rush hour, and the fact that drivers seem to be moving rather quickly and recklessly through a lot of these spots trying to beat lights and switch lanes in what are rather strange intersections crowded by turning streetcars, and you've got yourself a daily death trap. Oh, and the strip mall on the corner with the Tim Hortons causes drivers to lose all sense of intersection etiquette in order to finagle parking spots.

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Jacqueline / July 12, 2012 at 03:19 pm
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Dupont between Lansdowne all the way to Christie. Cars treat it like a highway at times.

The Spadina bike lane is heavily used by cars as another car or parking lane.

The intersection at Annette and Dundas before going under the Railpath bridge: a lot of cars fail to see the bike lane before they turn.
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Get a car hippie / July 12, 2012 at 03:22 pm
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Cyclists whining, what a surprise.
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Joe Posts / July 12, 2012 at 03:22 pm
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Christie, south of Dupont. The Christie bike lane ends, road narrows, and drivers get antsy. Down near Follis/Essex, near Fiesta Farms supermarket, the road narrows further and delivery trucks often block the lane, forcing cyclists into the middle of the road or onto the sidewalk. South of Barton is Christie Pits Park. On Sundays a Rogers TV truck blocks the entire right lane, and parking along the street until Bloor makes it easy to win a door prize.
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the lemur / July 12, 2012 at 03:29 pm
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York: streetcar tracks all over the place (but no streetcars), drivers zooming up to Richmond or Queen with no regard for anyone.

Simcoe: bumpy as anything, endless construction, obnoxious drivers trying to get to Front, random pedestrians crossing.

Spadina Crescent. Queen's Park Crescent. Richmond/Adelaide/Eastern.
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jer / July 12, 2012 at 03:33 pm
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I agree with the Queens Quay comment. You would think it would be a nice casual ride in that area but the car traffic is very congested (especially on the weekend) and the illegally parked cars (or, the people parking with handicap stickers in that area) really make it difficult for cars to get around and they do stupid things that put bikers at risk. They should make the whole area "no stopping" and not just "no parking" and tow people away that park on the street.

Also, even where there are bike lanes further down, there are always cars (in particular taxis) stopped in them.
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OuchMyArse / July 12, 2012 at 03:48 pm
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The sheer destruction of the various patched pieces of asphalt in the curb lane on the Danforth makes my teeth chatter and has probably taken a good year out of the life of my bike.
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Bradley / July 12, 2012 at 04:23 pm
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My unfavourites have all been mentioned, so I'll thrown in southbound Pape from O'Connor to Danforth. Soooo many uneven patches.
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Q? replying to a comment from gogo / July 12, 2012 at 04:46 pm
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are you cycling backwards if you are going west from Broadview to Donlands?
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Kat / July 12, 2012 at 06:04 pm
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Sherbourne. Really. What kind of bike lane is that.
Dupont at Christie. It's like riding on a washboard.
Wellesley, west of Yonge.
And Ossington, only because cars try to run me down while I am trying to turn onto the side streets. :-(

Oh and there are a few side streets near Lansdowne and Dundas that run east-west. Can't think of the names, but Google recommended them as an alternate route. Google did not tell me there would be broken glass and garbage strewn all over. Super.
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Martin LeMaitre / July 12, 2012 at 06:47 pm
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I cycle downtown along Shuter from River every day. The construction in Regent Park has turned the bike lanes into rutted gravel tracks. The stretch from River to Sherbourne is especially hellish. I think they should terminate the Shuter bike lane west of Church because it's always parked in by ambulances and police cars going to St Mike's hospital, delivery trucks, or people chatting on cellphones. What's the point?
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Mt / July 12, 2012 at 07:21 pm
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Bloor, but especially anywhere west of the Humber. I'm usually pretty comfortable on any street but that section I avoid.
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Toronto / July 12, 2012 at 07:27 pm
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They all suck. Toronto is not a bike friendly City. It's improving in some areas, like the west toronto railpath etc..It's a good thing, but a long way to go when you compare it for example to another large city like Montreal which again is miles ahead in both providing city bikes(bixi) And cycling lanes. I also believe there is still a lack of respect towards cyclists in this city. The way this city is designed and the way it is being developed is making me doubt very much that this will ever improve. It's very much a corporate/business centered city. You have small areas spread across that cater to what people are looking for ( the arts, entertainment, water front/theme parks etc, city parks) But they're all very small. Toronto is build off business and mostly business alone. If i was a tourist living in another country comtemplating on vising Toronto i would think lets see...CN tower?.....Yup, it ends there, sad i know.
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Cycle girl / July 12, 2012 at 08:44 pm
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I regularly bike the Martin Goodman trail, 5 times per week. However, I drive a lot for work. Last week a bicycle hit my car while I was stopped at a red-light st queen and shuter. Cyclists in the city are getting pretty arrogant and think they are invicible. There are just some streets that cyclists should stay away from, and that comes from a regular cyclist. We are not invicible.
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Binky / July 12, 2012 at 09:34 pm
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Yorkville Ave. between Yonge and Bay. My poor ass just can't handle those bumps.
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Food Champion of Satan / July 12, 2012 at 09:40 pm
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HAHA! Dundas is a very dangerous zone indeed. There are many falls but the city is run by people who drive minivans. HAH!
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the lemur replying to a comment from Toronto / July 12, 2012 at 09:51 pm
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That could be changing; I hope it is. Congestion is getting worse, transit isn't improving any time soon, parking is becoming scarce, especially in new condo developments, and cycling is picking up among the business crowd.

I don't buy your assertion about what tourists come here for. There are already many coming here who know exactly what they're looking for, and it's not the CN Tower.
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Snailspace / July 12, 2012 at 10:53 pm
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Which streets in Toronto are the worst for cyclists? I've found that the roads between the lake to the south, Steeles to the north, Vic Park to the east, and all the way to Kipling in the west are rather bad.
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steveranden / July 12, 2012 at 11:57 pm
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I wonder which sidewalks have the most cyclists driving on them, thereby making them the worst sidewalks to walk on?
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Daragh / July 13, 2012 at 02:09 am
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That whole Lansdowne/college/dundas intersection is an absolute disaster. there are tracks everywhere. the road looks like years and years of topping up on the asphalt by the city has led to ridiculous bumps. i have emailed that 311 service by the city about it to no avail.

I know this is all negative talk but Davenport from lansdowne all the way to Bay is a pleasure to cycle, As is harbord heading towards Queeens Park
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Moe / July 13, 2012 at 09:16 am
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Well, anywhere north of Lawrence the danger is close. Bayview north of lawrence I feel drivers are there to get u.
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Aaron / July 13, 2012 at 09:45 am
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I'm surprised to see King on the list. I consider it to be the best east-west route through the central downtown. Ok, that shows the sad state of cycling through the central downtown, but still, the heavy traffic on King keeps cars moving slowly, which makes it fairly safe. I almost never get passed, I can take the whole lane and keep up with the speed of traffic. It's a much better cycling route than Richmond/Adelaide, right beside it, where far too many drivers race around like they're on a freeway.
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the lemur replying to a comment from steveranden / July 13, 2012 at 10:43 am
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Cyclists *ride* bikes, not drive. There are no sidewalks that have any higher proportion of sidewalk cyclists on them than any other, because sidewalk cycling is very much a minority strategy and one that should be strongly ostracised. It's like asking which streets have the worst oblivious jaywalkers crossing them.
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Bob / July 16, 2012 at 11:45 am
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One of the things I don't like about having bike lanes is when cars want to make a right hand turn, cyclists automatically think think they have the right of way because they are going staight. Cyclists, cut the drivers some slack. (I'm a cyclist too.)
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the lemur replying to a comment from Bob / July 16, 2012 at 12:38 pm
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Doesn't that depend on who gets there first and the speed of both vehicles? Cyclists shouldn't try to push through, obviously, but neither should a driver speed up to make a right if it means cutting the cyclist off. Both situations happen too frequently.
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Lisa / July 20, 2012 at 02:52 pm
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For those that ride outside of the downtown core, two roads that should be absolutely avoided are Bayview Avenue (south from Steeles) and Kipling --unless of course you want to crash into a crater.
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