bike lanes

During a recent visit to the Bike Pirates Geoff showed me this old 1976 Bike Route Announcement. Amazing.

As you may already know, the City has been plowing the Martin Goodman Trail this winter. A few weeks ago I took my bike down and discovered a peaceful east-west winter bike route where I didn't have to worry about sliding into a streetcar track or get run over. Bliss. This video and G&M article by Christopher Shulgan explains how the City got to plowing it and gets feedback from runners and cyclists.

Brian Betsworth, amateur photographer and journalist but professional bike safety teacher, recounted for us the thrill of having a bike lane that isn't heaped with blocks of snow and black ice:

I was thrilled to encounter a scraped-clean bike lane on the Bloor Viaduct last night...in -17 no less!

Councillor Glen De Baeremaeker wished for bike lanes this Christmas. Did he get his wish or just a lump of coal for going outside the Bike Plan?

De Baeremaeker revealed his wish list at last week's meeting of the city's public works and infrastructure committee, of which the avid cyclist is the chair, and no, he wasn't sitting on Mayor David Miller's knee at the time.

Cycle 26, a group of Ward 26 cycling advocates, copied me on a report they recently submitted to the City. Ward 26 is what normal people consider the inner suburbs. It includes Leaside, Thorncliffe and Flemingdon Park; a very ethnically and economically-diverse ward. It includes the Don Trail as well as a number of planned routes in the Bike Plan, most of which are not close to being implemented. Thus the report (see attached).

From Cycle 26 member, Geoff Kettel:

Lay down a sewer pipe and there are myriad standards dictating dimension, clearance and placement. Lay down a bike lane and sound design precepts are optional, more often recognized in the breach than in the application. How is it that conduits for sh_t are typically subjected to greater planning rigor than conduits for human beings on bicycles?

The Toronto Star has a couple of bike infrastructure related stories today:

In THE MINUTES: City Council the Star reports that the Lawrence Ave. East. bike lanes between Victoria Park Ave. and Rouge Hills Dr. have been approved by City Council. We reported on this earlier, but now it's official.

From the Toronto Star, Sun Nov 16, 2008

BIKE LANES

THE PLAN

To build 1,000 kilometres of bikeways, including 495 km of bike lanes, by 2012, delayed from the original 2011 target.

ADVOCATES

Renforth Dr., north of Bloor St.

On Wednesday, the City of Toronto's Cyclometer newsletter announced the following: