Eastern Ave Bike Lane?
On my morning commute I usually take the Lakeshore path, but today for some reason I decided to try Eastern. I see the bike lane all the time when I roll south along Leslie. East york section is fine, then the bike lane ends around Broadview. Ok, guess I'll keep riding. Then, before I know it, I'm on the Richmond St bridge squashed between the DVP exit ramp and Eastern traffic. WTF. Oh, and there's a helpful sign that says something like "Warning cyclists: cars quickly changing lanes".
Sign should read: "Riding your bike on this bridge during rush hour is like committing suicide without picking the actual day"
Just take the lakeshore path, don't let the twisted TO urban planners (if they have any) trap you on the bridge.
That's a problem that should be fixed.
Eastern is still a good place for a bike lane, eventually it could connect with Adelaide and Richmond downtown when the bridge over the Don is done. It serves the local area now.
The Lakeshore bikepath is great, but there aren't too many places to get on or exit from it. Without Eastern, the next one to the north is Dundas since Queen will never get one due to the streetcar tracks and street parking in the way.
Why put a bike lane on Eastern? Stupid urban planning. Take a few reasons:
I like the Lakeshore path but see Eastern as being a good idea as well, it will prevent it from being a highway like Dundas used to be.
Eastern may be a nowhere place to shop but the area will change quickly.
If you look at a map you'll see that fewer than half the north/south streets south of Queen go down to the Lakeshore. That's why Eastern is a good bike route, it has more local access to people living in the area. Lakeshore is a thruway for cyclists with few feeders.
Eastern also runs parallel to Queen instead of going further south like the Lakeshore, it can head downtown more directly especially when the unused bridge across the Don is put into service.
I don't give a crap about bike lanes, since the city can't properly design the few there are. I have a simpler solution: police the roads properly, including parking and driving infractions along with speeding, and add all environment and social costs of driving into the cost of gas as a tax.
I guess it'd be easier to get a full complement of bike lanes.
Let's see...
Toronto's Medical Officer of Health, Dr. David McKeown released a report saying that every year traffic pollution kills 440 people and injures 1,700 so seriously that they have to be hospitalized. The mere economic cost of just the deaths alone is $2.2 billion. Not to mention the pain, suffering and hardship of the victims and the grief of their friends, relatives and loved ones.
Then there is the cost of the medical care to the 1,700 who are "only" hospitalized and not killed by car pollution. And the dead and injured in all the car crashes. And the costs of police, fire and ambulance services. And the cost of building and maintaining the roads and expressways. And the costs of having the Canadian Forces in the Middle East and Central Asia (ie Afghanistan) fighting oil wars. And the costs of the noise pollution of all the cars. And the costs of global warming.
It seems to me that a fair gasoline tax that adequately covers all the social and environmental costs is approximate $5.00 per litre.
And about those 440 deaths every year. One of them was my father. The sweetest man who every lived. He never smoked a day in his life, yet died of lung cancer last year. Cars killed him. He was one of the 440 that car pollution kills every year.
Dr. David McKeown's report may be found on the official City of Toronto website at:
http://www.toronto.ca/health/hphe/air_pollution_burden.htm
The solution is simple...
Vote for Harper. With a majority, he'll certainly be legalizing guns (the American way). No taxi driver would dare cut me off - when he sees a shotgun proudly strapped across my back rack!