Where the heck is Long Branch? Find out next Sunday, October 3rd
Hi;
There will be a Car-Free Day by the lake on Sunday, October 3rd, noon-4PM. We're closing off Lake Promenade between 42nd and 39th St. Both Cycle Route 2 and the Waterfront Trail follow Lake Promenade. At the west end is waterfront Marie Curtis Park, and the Waterfront Trail continues into Mississauga.
If you've wondered "where the heck is Long Branch", it could be a great day to explore the south Etobicoke shoreline. It's a very nice ride west from the end of the Martin Goodman Trail and the Humber pedestrian bridge. You'll have to ride for a few kilometres on Lake Shore Blvd through Mimico, but this isn't the Lake Shore Blvd. expressway you see east of the Humber. The rest is quiet residential streets, and a few sections of trail through parks, the biggest being Sir Samuel Smith, which has a mini-Leslie-Street-spit you can ride out along.
The leaves will be changing, so it will be a pleasant fall ride.
There's also access by TTC buses from Kipling (123 Shorncliffe) and Islington (110A Islington South) which drop you off at Long Branch loop, a couple of minute's ride (downhill) to the event. The buses have cycle racks on them for your convenience. And you can take the GO train to Long Branch station.
By the way, I've done a couple of traffic surveys along that section of Lake Promenade, and bicycles outnumber cars and walkers combined.....by about two-to-one! We're planning to have a mechanic to help (for free) with any minor repairs.
Hope to see you there. Any questions, add a comment here.
The multi-use paved trail that runs north from Marie Curtis Park has also been improved and repaved in the past week. It's a beautiful ride; some parts are in hemlock bottomlands that feel more like Algonquin than the City of Toronto.
I haven't ridden north of the Horner cutoff yet, but it would be interesting to see if the trail has now been extended north of the QEW, replacing various informal paths, to give an easy ride up to the west side of Sherway Gardens.
I must say its about time for there to be bike lanes on Lakeshore Blvd west in Long Branch. I found them SUdnay Oct. 3 and it was a plwasure to ride them. BUT, I am worried that the angle parking drivers will back out without checking first, now that the 3 foot bike lane goes right along the side of the road and the abcks of their cars. I can see an accident waiting to happen. On Sunday little traffic or parked vehicles to worry about, but what about the rest of the week?!?
hpvrider
The Bike Plan calls for lanes from 1st Ave. to Norris.
I believe it something that should be pushed for. Phase 2 of the Mimico 20/20 plan will be completed in 2012. This will connect Etobicoke to the Humber bike trail.
If the bike lane is put in, it will connect this trail to the Waterfront Trail. This will close the western gap of the Waterfront Trail. It will be possible to go from the Harbourfront to Mississauga on a continuous trail. It is a goal worth going for.
It should be an easy fit. Although not enforced, car parking is not allowed on most of the stretch. It is a wide street and is not heavily travelled by car.
The problem is very little attention is paid to areas outside of the old City of Toronto. There are not enough people who advocate for lanes like this one. There are many cyclists in Ward 6, but no political power. All efforts are for downtown, little for other areas.
Yes, the angled parking on Lake Shore is bad. I wind up riding at the very left edge of the bicycle lane, and to be honest my ability to pay attention to angle-parked vehicles (especially hidden behind pickups and vans) detracts from my ability to pay attention to the rest of the road ahead of me.
The now-retired City roads person for the area said that he fought the angle parking as a bad idea. That suggests that it was maybe the BIA and the Councillor who liked them. (Neither are bicycle advocates.)
There's also the horrible way the westbound bicycle lane is laid out around 37th, routing cyclists to the right of a right-turn lane.
I'll ride Lake Shore if I'm going to a destination on Lake Shore, but Route 2 along the waterfront is my preference in general--a much nicer ride.