A Toronto bike lane vanished during construction and hasn't been replaced
The case of the vanishing bike lane. Sounds like a book title, right?
Well unfortunately, that's just the reality of Toronto construction.
Spotted on Twitter via @poissonish, the northbound bike lane outside a portion of Bayview Avenue was not reinstalled after the sidewalk was replaced early last week.
@311Toronto the sidewalk outside 170 Bayview Ave was replaced last week but they didn’t reinstall the NB bike lane. It’s extremely dangerous throwing cyclists into oncoming traffic with the bike signal
— Fish (@poissonish) September 8, 2022
Cc: @cllrbuxtonpotts @TheBikingLawyer @kristynwongtam pic.twitter.com/n0I1m6X1m2
The concrete blocks designed to physically mark the bike lane are nowhere to be seen.
And in true Toronto fashion, cars are now parked where bikers were once able to pass through safely, or, sort of safely.
Isn't the bike lane still there? It's just that those cars are parked in it, instead of beside it? pic.twitter.com/VIGOhJxTiW
— dsooza (@ds00za) September 14, 2022
"Last week the entire sidewalk was replaced but the contractor didn’t reinstall the protect bike lane so everyone is just parking in the original parking spots," reads the thread.
The original poster said they saw a family biking along this stretch of road when they were forced into oncoming traffic.
Contra flow bike lane eliminated by error during recent sidewalk work. Cyclists now directed into oncoming traffic. The time estimate relayed below is. .. concerning
— NotSafe4BikesTO (@NotSafe4BikesTO) September 14, 2022
Stay tuned for more on #NotSafe4BikesTO!
More info below in the thread from @poissonish https://t.co/f24x1HWeYi pic.twitter.com/GLwPFWo9Mr
Thankfully, 311 Toronto responded to the thread and indicated the message had been forwarded to transpiration for investigation, though it appears their "investigation" has amounted to a big pile of nothing.
As of five hours ago, the bike lane is still non-existent. Apparently, according to City Councillor Buxton Potts, the estimated fix time is nine whole months .
This is a PSA: Try to avoid biking near 170 Bayview Avenue if possible.
