bike paths

Update: the URL was wrong. This corrected one will work.

From the desk of the bike union, there's a survey on the maintenance of the Martin Goodman Trail (waterfront trail) through this last winter. Fill in the survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=2YB5Jp2tFqQzWsyEj4aB...

Last fall, the Toronto Cyclists Union gave deputations in favour of a winter snow clearing pilot project for the Martin Goodman Trail. Once it was approved to go ahead, we agreed to help the Transportation department gather feedback from cyclists about how successful they felt the initiative was.

If you used the Martin Goodman Trail over the winter, now is your chance to let the City know what you thought of their winter trail maintenance efforts.

Transportation Services maintained the Martin Goodman Trail in wintertime from the north side of Northern Dancer Blvd to Sherbourne Street and Stadium Road to Windermere Avenue from January 2009 onwards, for the first time. If you used the Trail during that time, please complete this short survey (one survey per computer).

Photo credit masachiba

This week's big news is the OMB's denial of SmartCentre's plans for a big box development in Leslieville. The story has been covered in The Star, Torontoist and Spacing.

Why are cyclists celebrating this win? The development would have abutted one of the few dedicated bike paths Torontonians have built. We all expect our bike paths to have intersections, but this would have added three very busy parking lot entrances on this stretch of path. In addition, it would have been another car-oriented development in a place with potential to be a transit-oriented, pedestrian friendly and cycling friendly employment centre.

The full decision is on the OMB site (pdf). If you find yourself making a case at the OMB, it's probably a good read.

If you have any insight into the success in this case, please share in the comments.

Toronto is considering converting a popular bike path that runs along the North side of Lakeshore Boulevard East into parkland. This point isn't to change the bike path, but to change the city's influence in the area. It's all part of a strategy to oppose the Walmart being planned for this part of the city.

Push to convert cycle path to parkland draws protest

That would force SmartCentres Inc. - whose project has been opposed by local city councillors as a "big-box" shopping centre - to seek council permission to run driveways through the cycle path and onto Lake Shore, between Leslie Street and Carlaw Avenue.

How would this impact the bike path? The city officially ignores parkland paths when it comes to snow removal. On the other hand, this could protect the path from being crossed by a Walmart driveway, something that's good for no one. Well, almost no one.

Soon you'll be able to take a bike path right through the Etobicoke Creek running through Pearson Airport, the National Post reports.

Officials have nearly resolved security issues over a new bike path across Pearson International Airport property, one of the last pieces in a new path that will allow bicyclists to travel from Toronto to Caledon.

“The big push in cycling circles is this concept of connectivity,” says Mississauga Councillor Eve Adams. “You want to be able to get onto a trail and go for a long run.”

Apparently the Etobicoke Creek trail should be quite idyllic unlike the surrounding flat, treeless airport lands.

The Etobicoke Creek bed is an uneven terrain, and the airport is therefore unable to use it, although it is officially part of the property the Greater Toronto Airport Authority leases from the federal government. Negotiations with the GTAA began in October and are expected to wrap up by this spring, in time for work to commence during the summer months. The trail will have its grand opening in spring 2009.
No public trail in North America has ever crossed airport property. Both the city and the GTAA want to make sure that the area can still be restricted in case of emergency situations at the airport.

We recently received a question from a reader:

On the Martin Goodman Trail - do pedestrians walk on the right side of the trail, facing the same direction as the cyclists? Or do pedestrians walk on the left, facing the oncoming cyclists, as I was told by a friend yesterday. Please settle this discussion for us!

This issue comes up with any heavily used multi-user path. What do you think is best for cyclists and pedestrians?

The regular Martin Goodman Trail users must be aware of this one already. Not far from the famous bollards at the Boulevard Club, you'll find, hopefully while avoiding it, the stub of an damaged bollard.

The Toronto Star's "The Fixer" is taking this one on.

We checked on it yesterday and noticed it appears to be what's left of a bollard that was sheared off.
...
Then a woman came out of Palais Royale and explained the bollard was knocked down – along with a nearby fire hydrant – by a car on the Lake Shore that lost control.

She said they'd placed a fluorescent pylon over the bollard stub several times, but it always ends up somewhere else.

IBikeTO user Anthony submitted this story to us from the Victoria Times Colonist: Bike Town USA. The writer, John Lutton, a cyclist from Victoria, visited Madison, Wisconsin for the Pro-Walk, Pro-Bike conference. He was impressed with what he saw.

From the airport in Milwaukee, I'd covered almost 160 km on off-road trails and for the first 50 km, the route is paved, too. Rail trails reach another 70 km past Madison to Dodgeville, more than half way across the state.

Having a quick look at the cycling maps around Madison, the thing that struck me is the network of trails and paths stretching out from the city. It looks like it's actually possible to ride between two towns on comfortable routes.

Anthony has been kind enough to maintain a forum thread with links to cycling stories in major newspapers. Many thanks, Anthony. To anyone not using it already, it's definitely a handy way to keep on top of the news.

Last night, I stopped in at the open house for the Edwards Gardens and Wilket Creek repair plans. The damage from the August 2005 flooding of the park still hasn't been repaired, and as I learned last night, the damage goes beyond just the bike path. Repairs to the bike path are planned, but not going to happen right away.

Flooding of Wilket Creek

The city employees explained that the focus is currently on repairing the banks of the river and reinforcing the curves in the river with stone. This apparently makes the river slightly less naturalized, but is far from being channelized. The stones will only be positioned near the bends so that erosion is not too severe during the next major flood.