Etobicoke: West District Design Initiative

Tonight the City of Toronto is hosting a public meeting for the West District Design Initiative. This initiative is a large scale re-design of three important parts of Etobicoke:

• Bloor and Islington (Map)
• Six Points Interchange and Westwood Theatre Lands at the Bloor-Dundas-Kipling interchange (Map)
• Etobicoke Civic Centre (Map)

Meeting Details:

7:00 - 9:30pm, Council Chambers
Etobicoke Civic Centre
399 The West Mall (Map)
South-east corner of Burnhamthorpe and The West Mall, Toronto ON M9C 2Y2
TTC: subway to Islington, then Burnhamthorpe bus #50 west to The West Mall
Website: http://www.toronto.ca/business/wddi.htm

So, why is this important for cyclists? The re-design of these key parts of Etobicoke will have a lasting impact on the entire area. Building density, street patterns, traffic flow, parkland, access to services, pedestrian and cycling amenities, and much more will change. Overall, I personally feel these changes will be a huge benefit to the area, but input from cyclists is required to make the changes work well for us too.

I read over all of the summaries and reports for the WDDI, studied maps, checked the bike plan, and came up with a few interesting items for cyclists, and other suggestions for improvement.

Bloor and Islington:

• This section of Bloor St. is in the Bike Plan. Would be nice to have it link easily to The Kingsway and the Humber River Trail system to the east. This could connect to the Bloor St. bikeway that the city is studying, possibly out to Royal York Rd.
• Bike access from the North is pretty bad, only along the very busy stretch of Islington Ave. which goes under a nasty railway underpass. This should be improved. It's wide enough for bike lanes, but they would have to be designed carefully and keep turning buses in mind.
• Connections to the Mimico Creek trails and Tom Riley Park, in addition to the schools on Montgomery Rd.
• A hydro corridor follows the railway tracks, east to west. Although there are serious issues with grading, it may be possible to create a linear park and trail system through here.
• A better pedestrian/cyclist connection to Bloor and Islington from the Mabelle Ave. / Cordova Ave. apartment neighbourhood to Bloor and Islington could be made if a bridge or tunnel was installed for crossing the tracks. This would also improve access to the subway for residents and commuters who park in the Cordova parking lot.

Six Points / Westwood Theatre:

• Just north of Kipling Station (up Aukland Rd.) is a hydro corridor that heads very far north, all the way up to the Finch Ave. corridor! Now that the City is looking closer at expanding bikeways through hydro and rail corridors, this north-south connection to Kipling Subway Station would be a great place to start! Building it up at least past Burnhamthorpe Rd. would connect it to Echo Valley Park and the Mimico Creek trail system. The southernmost section of this trail is actually in the Bike Plan too.
• The design shows a linear park along the south edge of the Westwood Theatre lands, connecting Bloor St. to Kipling Subway Station. This could be made into a nice multi-use trail that would bypass the busy heart of this development.
• The Bike Plan shows Bloor St. bike lanes through this area. The Six Points reconfiguration plan includes these, in addition to wide curb lanes on Dundas St.

Etobicoke Civic Centre:

• They're planning on moving the ECC to Islington or Kipling and redeveloping this area to mixed-use. This means different types of traffic will need access. This is especially true for any parkland that would be added to this area, as people of all ages would be more likely to cycle there.
• Cycling access from the east is limited by Highway 427, and a not-too-friendly interchange with Burnhamthorpe Rd. on the North side. Unfortunately, the 427 and that section of Burnhamthorpe are controlled by the MTO, so and configuration changes are highly unlikely.
• The Bloor St. bike lanes in the Bike Plan would make crossing the 427 easier from the east / south, especially since this is no highway interchange at this point.
• The Bike Plan suggests installation of bike lanes along The West Mall, from Rathburn Rd. all the way down to The Queensway. This would greatly improve cyclist access to the site from the North and South.

Other notes:

• Strong cyclist-friendly connections between each of these sites and the surrounding areas are needed.
• Bloor-Islington and the Six Points area are right next to each other, separated only by a short stretch of Bloor St. that swoops under the subway and railway tracks. This connection would need significant improvement to make it friendlier for cyclists and pedestrians.
• If the Bike Plan were implemented, a solid connection from Islington all the way up to the current ECC site via Six Points along Bloor St. and the West Mall would be possible.
• Islington and Kipling subway stations will be re-developed. This is a perfect opportunity to provide better bicycle parking and bike lockers at these stations.

These are only a few possibilities for improving Etobicoke for cyclists. I encourage all of you to attend tonight's meeting, and speak to the decision makers about cycling. If you can't make it to the meeting, please email or phone councillors Peter Milczyn (Six Points, Islington), and Doug Holyday with your own comments, ideas, and suggestions. I will probably post a followup article sometime after the meeting.