Toronto is getting new bikes lanes all over the city
Bike lanes were a hot topic at the last city council meeting before summer break today. For biking enthusiasts, most of the meeting’s results were exciting news, except for the rejection of reintroducing the controversial Jarvis Street bike lane.
The Bloor Street bike lane is going to be extended to High Park and a pilot bike lane is going to be constructed on the Danforth. City council voted 23-3 on these plans.
Big step forward. City Council voted 23-3 to extend the Bloor bike lane to High Park and to pilot a bike lane on Danforth. Council also voted 18-8 to proceed with plans for bike lanes on University Ave.
— Joe Cressy (@joe_cressy) July 17, 2019
The proposal of exploring a bike lane on University Avenue was passed by council in an 18-8 vote.
However, Councilor Kristyn Wong-Tam’s recommendation to remove the fifth lane on Jarvis Street and reintroduce a bike lane, instead of planters and wider sidewalks, did not carry.
According to Police Traffic Collision Data, after the #JarvisBikeLanes were removed, collisions more than doubled to 30 collisions, 25 involving pedestrians & cyclists. Jarvis St cycling tripled when bike lanes were there. No one should boast about putting people in danger. https://t.co/tAuQEg9iZu
— Kristyn Wong-Tam (@kristynwongtam) July 17, 2019
Wong-Tam said that reinstalling the bike lanes would have undone “one of the worst policy pieces of the Rob Ford legacy,” referring to the contentious removal of these bike lanes during the previous Ford era.
Councillor Anthony Peruzza received support for creating an “off-road cycling super highway along the rail lines,” travelling from north to south and from east to west.
By request, here’s a map of the bike lanes Council just approved to be installed this year.
— Matt Elliott (@GraphicMatt) July 17, 2019
(The Bike Network Plan, also approved, includes a bunch of studies for routes like Bloor West, Danforth, University Ave, with installation further off.) pic.twitter.com/QmSRZv19sj
The entire council voted in support of the Cycling Network Plan, which works to identify approximately 525 kilometers of new bike lanes, trails and routes.
This development has been slow-moving. Only approximately 60 kilometres of the plan have been built since 2016. Hopefully today's support for new bike lanes will accelerate the construction.
