bike lane toronto

Toronto bike lane has just been totally transformed by colourful street art

A downtown Toronto bike lane has just been tranformed into something colourful and exciting. It's all part of the City's StART initiative to add more street art to roads and public spaces.

The result is a series of concrete barriers along the Richmond St. bike lane east of Jarvis that are now covered in beautiful murals and art designed by local street artists.

The barriers will be painted in four segments, earth, water, air and fire — with the first phase of the project: Earth + Air underway as of this past weekend, and the next phase Fire + Water starting this week.

StART aims to enliven the city’s infrastructure and encourage active transportation through walking and cycling, making our streets more inviting and safe.

The program was created to showcase and mentor emerging talent and create opportunities for positive engagement among residents, business owners and operators — with a goal of reducing graffiti vandalism and replacing it with vibrant, colourful, community-engaged street art.

With Toronto Bike Month 2021 running until June 30, the city has also created a series of initiatives to celebrate cycling and to encourage people to get outside and ride safely, while reducing greenhouse emissions.

To inspire Bike Month activities, the city created a customized bingo game, webinars for bike safety and a log to document your rides.

Cyclists are encouraged to ring their bells while riding by the artists at work on Richmond St. as a show of support for the mural project.

The painting of the barriers will take place throughout the summer and there will be a rolling application open for any artists interested in participating.

Lead photo by

Julieamlin


Latest Videos



Latest Videos


Join the conversation Load comments

Latest in Arts

The AGO remains closed indefinitely as strike drags on

Giant glowing wall will divide busy Toronto destination from Gardiner Expressway

Mean Girls the Musical is coming back to Toronto this summer

Toronto organization behind annual holiday street festival facing financial challenges

A massive interactive floating arch that glows at night is coming to Toronto

Toronto museum with confusing and often misspelled name is changing it

People from Toronto can now apply to live out their dreams working for Disney

Lake Ontario to be dyed bright pink for Toronto art installation