Ontario Place: more detours, closures, and stop signs?
Following the MG trail in the Ontario Place area just seems to be getting a little more painful every few weeks. I will put some questions/requests to 311. Has anyone else looked into these things?
- Prior to the Indy, the road that runs along the east side, by the inukshuk (previously a Lancaster bomber), was re-opened for traffic. At the same time, where the trail swings off to the west, stop signs were installed, as were barriers to route cyclists along the south side of Coronation Park. Well, the stop signs are still there, the road is still open, barriers still there, and detour signs are there randomly upright or tipped over. Does anyone know if this will be the permanent configuration? There is no reason to keep that road open for cars, as Newfoundland Road provides the connection. In the meantime, every cyclist blows through the stop signs.
- Temporary fences are going up west of the west entrance, all along the south side of Lake Shore. I hope they're just for Caribana (whatever it's called this year). I assume that the trail will be kept open during the CNE. Otherwise, we'll have to use Lake Shore Blvd, which doesn't sound too appealing in rush hour.
- The P-gates continue to be closed. What's going to be done about this? As Ontario Place gets busier, it's clear enough that many visitors who arrive by car have no idea how to deal with the bicycle crossing. I am satisfied by my theory that the P-gates are there, not for 'cyclist safety', but to keep cyclists from unduly inconveniencing cars accessing the Ontario Place parking lots.
I rode through Ontario Place property and the CNE about 2 nights ago and had no obstructions at all. I zigzagged across the 2 bridges, did a figure 8 around the EX and then rode to the Humber and back, continuing past the Amphitheater and eventually connecting with the Queens Quay with no problems.
The temporary fences South of Lakeshore, West of Ontario Place are for launching boats for kayak/dragon boat type races. Some days you might have to ride to the parallel path closer to the road during office hours, and probably just on weekends from late morning to mid afternoon.
I've never seen the MG path closed, not even during the CNE or the Indy race. Last year I rode to the end of the Lakeshore stretch and watched the whole race on my bike with about 150 other people who were on the path watching though a hole in the fence used by emergency vehicles. During the EX there is even less of an obstruction. Between midnight and 8am you're free to ride through Ontario Place property as well as the entire CNE grounds. There are no barricades, nothing.
The biggest obstacles through the lakeshore trail are people during the day especially Sundays when special events are happening. I haven't seen much of any gates if any, outside from a segregated section inside the CNE which is still easy to pass through on a bike, unless you're doing it during the day when a parade is on then yes you're going to have a problem.
Yeah, the stop signs at the inukshuk are gone as of yesterday evening, as are the fences west of Ontario Place.
I am waiting to see what modifications or detours they do this year for the CNE. The trail is certainly getting more popular. I am guessing that a lot of people from Liberty Village and Fort York areas are now using the trail as their jogging or dog-walking path.
Yesterday morning I got to bypass all the P-gates by taking Lake Shore Boulevard, as it was closed to cars. Kind of like "after the people are all gone"....it's a weekday morning, and Lake Shore is completely empty in both directions. Hey, I guess the flying saucers missed me?
As of today, parts of the MGT are closed until after the CNE. It is necessary to go on the old part of the trail south of Marilyn Bell park along the water. As usual the field in the north will be car parking for the Ex and the trail is needed for the cars to drive on to get in and out. On Labour Day cars will park on it.
The stands are up for the airshow but there are no restrictions there. All the P gates are closed and probably will not open again. Ontario Place is very much against opening them at all. Millions was spent on accomodating Ontario Place but reality is they don't like cyclists and never will.
I take my little revenge on Ontario Place by taking the really old alignment along the water's edge and the east-end access road. I'd rather not deal with the closed P-gates, the hordes of summer trail users, and clueless drivers entering and leaving Ontario Place.
The proposed two-way separated bicycle lanes on Sherbourne will face similar issues. City Staff already has proposed that there be a dedicated bicycle phase, otherwise the lights will be red for bicycles. I don't see this working out any better than the Ontario Plice two-way separated bike trail at intersections.
Those P gates are dangerous - I always see near misses and the occasional collision as cyclists try to squeeze their way through.
Also, pretty annoying to see all the detours on the MGM trail. The section between Jameson and Dufferin - one of the nicest parts of the trail because it's next to a lake and isn't surrounded by parking lots or lakeshore blvd - has been detoured nearly all summer. A lot of it is for the dragon boat races, usually their event is only for a weekend but they shut down the trail for nearly two weeks at a time to setup/take down.
There was also a shut down for the CNE air show - again for about two weeks even though the event only lasts for a weekend. The reason they shut down the trail was to put seating all the way to the edge of the lake. I think that's insane - do you really need to be sitting on the bike path to get a good view of the planes? Why not just put the seats on the grass and leave the path open. Ridiculous. Same with the dragon boat racers.