This photo was taken by Martin Koob at the City's cycling consultation session in July. A summary of that consultation can be found here.
Remember back in June when the newly minted Cycling Committee Chair, Councillor Adrian Heaps, said we'd get 27 km of bike lanes this year or else? Heaps was quoted in the Star saying, "If the transportation department has to spray paint it themselves – you can quote me on this – it's going in."
Who's counting? Martin Koob of biketoronto.ca is. He has crafted a comprehensive list of what's done, what's approved and what's left for 2007. Let's add it up!
Paint is dry:
* Logan Ave. - Eastern to point zoom south 0.2 km (contra-flow, pictured at bottom)
* Christie St. - Bloor to St. Clair 1.2 km (more pictures in our <a href="http://www.ibiketo.ca/image/tid/191">Streetscapes gallery</a>)
* Knox - Queen to Eastern 0.2
* Roselawn - Marlee to Dufferin 1 km (additional information below - <strong>UPDATE</strong>* Pictures now added below)
Approved and ready to rumble:
* Chester Hill - Broadview W 0.1 km
* Greenwood - Danforth to Queen 2.1 km
* Carlaw - Logan /Gerrard to Dundas 1 km
* Pond - Sentinel to Murray Ross 1 km
* Rogers - Old Weston to Oakwood 2.6 km
* Sentinel - Finch to Dovehouse 1.7 km
* Stephen - Queensway to Berry 0.5 km
* Queensway - Claude to Windermere 1.8 km
* Yonge - Queens Quay to Front 0.6 km
Still waiting for Go(dot):
* Annette & Dupont - Landsdowne to Jane 3.5 km
* Conlins - Sheppard to Military Trail 2.7 km
* Dawes - Danforth to Victoria Park 2.2 km
* Horner - Judson Browns Line to Islington 3.3 km
* Mill - Rathburn to Bloor 2 km
* Pharmacy - Danforth to Eglinton 3.9 km
* Rathburn - East Mall to Renforth 1.3 km
* Shaw - Barton to Dupont 0.6 km
* Eastern - Logan to Leslie 1.1 km
* Stanley - Royal York to Superior 0.6 km
* Royal York - Delroy to Mimico Creek 1.4 km
* Wilmington & Faywood - Finch to Clanton Park 3.1 km
That gives us a total of 2.6 km of actual, installed bike lanes for 2007 so far!
Please email me or Martin if you know of any others, or see anything amiss with this list.
Now, if the City wants to meet the Mayor's 2012 deadline for the Bike Plan it will have to install almost 80 km of on-street bike lanes per year. (I include a breakdown of the numbers, with more source links, in a previous Spacing post here.)
And, Council still needs to approve 14 km more to hit the 27 km target for this year.
You might also notice that Roselawn is not on the biketoronto list, but that it is at the top of the list pictured above. I was told by a cyclist riding on Roselawn that it was done, back in August. But, it was also being reported in the bike blogosphere that it was not standard width, nor was it signed. I decided to call the councillor's office to ask: Bike Lane or No Bike Lane?
Councillor Moscoe said he had a long, bitter fight with planners over stencilling this strip as a bike lane, which they refused to do. He admitted that it is only "about 4 feet" wide -- which is about half the standard 2 m width, recommended by the Transportation Association of Canada for a bike lane on a major urban road. But, he added that there are no parked cars on this road and thus, no door zone. "Someday I'm going to go and get the paint and paint my own stencil," he blustered. As much as I can appreciate his enthusiasm for bike lanes, cyclists here don't want to be squeezed. We want lanes of proper width, clearly signed and marked.
Still unclear, I asked a friend in the area to check it out today. She said there is, indeed, a bike lane on Roselawn complete with stencils, but that it is Marlee between Lawrence and Roselawn where there are no official markings. Photos are pending.
Another bit (and I do mean bitsy bit) of lane that might look contentious on paper is the 200 metre strip on Logan. It may be small, but it's not the size that matters -- it's the functionality. This bit of bike lane is an extremely useful contra-flow lane.
One-way streets can be used as a means of traffic control in residential areas, but they are a pain for cyclists. Contra-flow bike lanes are a great way to maintain the traffic control of one-way streets while allowing cyclists to have more direct routes through their neighbourhoods. Bicycles are officially exempted from the one-way street when a contra-flow bike lane is installed. Note below: the line marking the bike lane is yellow and not white since it separates traffic moving in opposite directions.
Do you have a suggestion for a contra-flow lane in your area? I'd love to hear it.
Above photos Courtesy of Martin Koob at biketoronto.ca
UPDATE — Roselawn bike lane below… signed, stencilled and delivered!
Roselawn bike lane begins west from Marlee and is marked all the way to Dufferin.
Marlee paint stripe below. City engineers won’t sign off on “lanes” that don’t meet the TAC standard width requirements. Apparently, council voted this one to be painted anyway! (What the councillor told me now makes sense, but he was obviously referring to Marlee.) This issue will also be familiar to citizens of Ward 5 and cyclists who use Royal York Rd. The Royal York Road reconstruction from Delroy to Mimico has been finished but the bike lanes are not in.
Unmarked Marlee lane begins at Eglinton and goes all the way to Lawrence.
Photos courtesy of Karey Iron
Crossposted from Spacing...where a lively discussion on the merits of contra-flow lanes has begun...
