Infrastructure

The City of Toronto is currently considering reconfiguring Front Street West from Bay Street to York Street to accommodate anticipated increased pedestrian traffic resulting from GO Transit’s expansion.

Ideas coming from the city include:

Last week, City Council approved the installation of “No Right Turn on Red” regulations at 5 downtown intersections. Prohibiting right turns on red at these intersections is required in order to install bike boxes and pedestrian scrambles, similar to those already in place at Yonge-Bloor and Yonge-Dundas.

On June 22nd, Toronto and East York Community Council voted unanimously to a report authorizing right turn on red prohibitions at four intersections in order to install bike boxes. The report also included a fifth intersection (Bay-Bloor) where right turns on red will be prohibited when the pedestrian scramble is installed. Prohibiting right turns on reds is critical to improving both the safety of cyclists and pedestrians.

The Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, at its meeting of June 15, will be considering a staff report seeking authority to install 13 new traffic control signals and road alterations to enhance 5 uncontrolled trail crossings, related to 30 kilometres of new trails and 4 kilometres of upgraded trails along the Finch Hydro Corridor, Gatineau Hydro Corridor and CN Leaside Rail Corridor, across the North York and Scarborough Districts. View the report here.

New shared lane pavement markings are being painted on downtown streets. These markings are called “sharrows” and are used to show the ideal cyclist position in the lane (away from the curb and parked cars), and to remind drivers to share the road.

Thanks to the Friends of Fort York for keeping us updated on major projects happening in the Fort York area, including the Fort York Pedestrian and Cycle Bridge which TCAT has supported and provided comment on. Here is an excerpt from the group's most recent newsletter:

As announced in previous TCAT News, TCAT is working with the City of Toronto to evaluate cycling conditions on College Street before and after the installation of a new bicycle pavement marking application. By Apr 30th we are requesting that cyclists who ride along College Street during rush hour between Lansdowne Ave and Manning Ave complete a survey about your experience. Sign up and find more information about the survey here.

As announced in last week's TCAT News, on Mar 30th the Clean Air Partnership conducted a webinar based on its new research report titled "Bike Lanes, On-Street Parking and Business Year 2 Report: A Study of Bloor Street in Toronto's Bloor West Village."

Waterfront Toronto, in partnership with the City of Toronto, completed a Class Environmental Assessment (EA) Study for the revitalization of Queens Quay in Toronto’s central waterfront. The purpose of the study was to create a plan for Queens Quay that successfully accommodates the various users – pedestrians, transit, cyclists, automobiles, recreational – while enhancing landscape and the public realm; and to develop and evaluate a number of alternative solutions and design concepts for pedestrian, transit, cycling, and automobile improvements along Queens Quay.

In August 2008, the City of Toronto initiated a Class Environmental Assessment Study for a pedestrian and cycle route/bridge over the railway corridors north of Fort York. This bridge is intended to provide a key link between Stanley Park to the north and the western area of the Fort York grounds to the south, improving connections to the waterfront.