As reported in a recent Washington Post article, Virginia is taking aim at one of the most enduring symbols of suburbia: the cul-de-sac. The state has decided that all new subdivisions must have through streets linking them with neighboring subdivisions, schools and shopping areas and will maintain only new subdivision streets that meet its connectivity, road and sidewalk requirements.

As reported previously in TCAT news,
the City recently held a public meeting to present their plans for
improvements to Jarvis Street. TCAT was represented at the meeting and

Leaving the wheels at home and going by foot can be a pleasurable way
to get around in winter. Yet for many, especially the elderly and
disabled, this most basic form of mobility is jeopardized during the
winter in Toronto due to the state of the sidewalks. The current

For over a year now the City has been talking about pulling together
all the various staff divisions involved with public space design to
create a Public Realm Division. This division would be responsible for
sidewalks, parkettes, signage, the coordinated street furniture
program, among other responsibilities.

One of the above-mentioned projects for which TCAT has been awarded
funding is a study looking at the impact on business resulting from the
removal of on-street parking in order to install bike lanes. The study
area is the Annex section of Bloor Street, between Spadina and
Bathurst. The findings from this report should be published by the end
of 2008 and will be of significant interest to City staff working on
the Bloor Corridor Visioning Study. This study was mostly completed in
2007, but the final report was just recently released (thanks to one

As mentioned in last week's TCAT News e-Bulletin, there is an important Community Council meeting coming up next Monday. The Toronto Urban Renewal Network (TURN) is working hard to get as many pedestrians and cyclists - especially those living in Ward 13 - out to speak in favour of a redesign for this dangerous intersection to more safely accommodate active transportation.