Bike Lane Review: The Queensway

Bike Lane: The Queensway at WindemereThe Queensway at Windemere
As first reported just over a week ago by Martin Koob at bikeToronto, new bike lanes have been installed on The Queensway between Windemere Ave. and Claude Ave. (map).

I often don't like bike lanes, especially when they are poorly designed or implemented, or when their state of disrepair makes me want to avoid them altogether. However, I think this is a welcome addition to this busy arterial road, and through this part of the city. Over the past week I had a few opportunities to ride this section of new bike lane at various times of day. Read on for more of my thoughts and photos.

The Queensway is a busy arterial road that connects the Queen-King-Roncessvalles intersection right out to Mississauga across southern Etobicoke. There's a streetcar right-of-way down the middle of it from Roncessvalles to around the Humber River. It's really not much to look at or write home about, as it's mainly a utilitarian road serving the motoring public.

From a cycling perspective, this section of road connects a few key locations nearby:

  • High Park
  • Parkdale / Queen West
  • The lake shore and Martin Goodman Trail
  • The #19 North bike route that goes up Ellis Ave to connect to the Runnymede Rd. bike lanes
  • The off-road recreational trail along the south side of High Park and Grenadier Pond.
  • It comes a bit short of connecting to the Humber River trail system to the west.

The Queensway at Ellis AveThe Queensway at Ellis Ave
What do I like about this bike lane? First of all, it's wide enough to comfortably ride in without feeling like I'm in a gutter and motorists aren't buzzing right past my shoulder. Also, there's no parking/stopping allowed anywhere along here, so getting doored it not an issue. It seems like the motorists stay a bit further to the left now that the bike lane markings are installed. Perhaps the narrower lanes slow down traffic too, but that's purely speculation (is 60km/h still a reasonable limit for this road?). There are very few intersections or driveways along this road, so turning conflicts are minimized. The bike lane markings become dashed at intersections, as they should be, to allow motorists to properly merge before making their turns.

Dangerous grates at east endDangerous grates at east end
Dislikes? There are few. This is actually a pretty well designed and implemented bike lane. My only major concern is that when riding east, the bike lane ends somewhat suddenly. While riding quickly downhill, cyclists have to be prepared to merge back into the rest of the traffic, while also navigating around a bend in the road and at least six bumpy and slippery steel manhole covers. Extending this bike lane further east to make this corner safer would require moving a sidewalk and lamp post, or removing another lane of traffic. I doubt either will happen soon. However, I think it would help if the bumpy manhole covers were smoothed out somehow, and maybe even treated with some kind of grippy substance so they wouldn't be slippery. The transition area out of the bike lane should be longer, and perhaps a sign posted a bit sooner, so that cyclists are alerted to the lane change earlier. I always hated riding around this bend, even before the bike lanes went in.

It would also be nice if the bike lanes could be extended west to at least cross the nasty Humber River bridge to connect to the trails, and further west to the upcoming Stephen Ave. lanes. Perhaps if the Queensway-Kingsway interchange gets re-designed, this could become a reality.

Beck Taxi in the bike laneBeck Taxi in the bike lane
Anyway, there you have it. Another 1.8km of bike lane in the city. Plenty more to go before we catch up to the Bike Plan, but I won't complain about the good lanes that actually get installed. Now I hope we can just keep this bike lane from turning into another taxi parking spot!

vic : 17 years 5 months ago
Tags: bike lanes, Queensway, Ward 13, Ward 14

Feedback: Martin Goodman Trail

As a member of the newly-formed Toronto Cycling Advisory Committee, I will be attending a meeting next week with Antonio Medeiros, a project manager at Waterfront Toronto. He is working on the design for the Martin Goodman Trail at Ontario Place that will run along the south side of Lakeshore Drive directly south of Exhibition Place.

The Waterfront Toronto team is at the beginning stages of the design work and are hoping for some cyclist feedback and thoughts about the project. In particular, the design team is concerned with safely accommodating multiple trail users, as well as creating safe and easy-to-navigate intersections where vehicular traffic must intersect. Please read the following description of the project, as it stands now, and post your comments. This project is already approved and will be completed quickly, with or without cyclists’ input. The more ideas I can bring to the table at this time, the better. Thanks for contributing!

The Martin Goodman Trail at Ontario Place project consists of extending the existing trail from Marilyn Bell Park over to Coronation Park at Strachan Avenue. This segment of the Martin Goodman Trail will be approximately 1100m in length and run parallel along Lakeshore Boulevard. It is expected that the design of the multi-use trail will accommodate a variety of cycling and pedestrian activities including commuter bicyclists, recreational bicycling, joggers, walking, and rollerblading. Construction is anticipated to begin in the Summer of 2008 and be completed in the Spring of 2009.

Building of the trail will necessitate a variety of other non-trail activities, roadways, intersections, and Ontario Place operations to be adjusted and augmented. For example the design of the trail may call for a unified tree canopy along the south side Lakeshore that will need to both serve the trail but also be the front door to Ontario Place. There are also a number of intersections that serve Ontario Place that will need to interface with the trail. Designing safe intersections for both trail users and vehicular traffic will be a key component of the trail design. This section of the trail, unlike the previous segment at Marilyn Bell Park will not interface with the waters edge although segments of it do lie within 30m of the Lake.

No Degrees and No Complaints


Other than a few numb toes, a dry day at zero degrees Celsius works out well for a cyclist. This year, a day-by-day adjustment of clothing has been complicated by the chaotic temperature changes. Still, it helps to get on the bike as often as possible to keep a sense for what clothing works for the current weather.

I was too warm for most of my ride, so take my clothing list with a grain of salt:

  • ski socks
  • bike shoes
  • light pants
  • wool t-shirt
  • sweater
  • fleece jacket
  • shell jacket (wind/rain "proof" and extremely yellow)
  • cotton gloves
  • helmet

I know it isn't any different from 10 or 15 degrees, somehow the air feels cleaner at these temperatures. It's invigorating to take a deep breath of cool air while pushing myself up a big hill.

One of the downsides to the cooler weather is the affect of cold air on the eyes. My eyes tend to water a little more easily as a cold wind blows at them. It may be time to start wearing glasses to avoid braking on the downhills.

This morning I counted 9 cyclists during my suburban trek. On a warm summer day, I see 16 to 25, and in the depth of the winter, I see 4 or 5. As unscientific as this "study" is, it's encouraging to see that I am not the only one enjoying this weather.

darren : 17 years 5 months ago
Tags: clothing, cold, weather