Westward extension of the Bloor bike lanes to Runnymede

Today was one of two public consultations on the westward extension of the Bloor bike lanes to Runnymede. This was the first opportunity for people to see the details of what is being proposed. A general description of the meeting was posted to bellsonbloor.org, but here is some discussion that is specific to Ward 4, i.e. the section between Runnymede and Keele.

This first meeting was at St. Wenceslas, just behind the Gladstone Library.

The information panels around the room are available here.

Maps of the different sections of the bike lane were on tables. The general design of the bike lanes have some similarity with what has already been done between Shaw St. and Avenue Rd. Car traffic has been reduced to one lane in each direction, with some left and right turn lanes retained. The good news is that there is sufficient road width along the entire length of the extension to provide some degree of protection over and above a painted line.

The protection that is proposed for most of the extension is bollards on concrete curbs. At the same time, there is an emphasis on putting the bike lanes by the curb, with spaces for car parking providing a buffer.

Here are some comments on some of the features that were revealed today, starting from west to east. This is the intersection with Runnymede.

Some of the parking along both sides of Bloor have been removed to accommodate the bike lanes, but about 70% has been retained along this stretch. At the intersection itself, there are new bus stop markings for the night bus. I also put a sticky note asking for bollards on the short section of bike lane just north of Runnymede, but this will probably be ruled out of scope.

Here is an artist’s rendering of the downhill section travelling east just past the Runnymede Library.

This is what it actually looks like on the map. It is not clear in the rendering, but this section of Bloor has curb insets for car parking. What they are proposing is that the bike lane swerves into this space, and the car parking is moved away from the curb.

This could be an issue for cyclists moving fast downhill to have to swerve in and out of a straight line path, but I suppose it is preferable to having a straight line bike lane that is in the door zone. However, near the bottom of the hill by Ellis Park, there is another such chicane that I believe will be problematic. They should just remove the two parking spaces.

Cycling up the hill towards High Park.

The next issue is the intersection with Keele. In the eastbound direction, there is currently a right turn lane for cars turning south on Parkside. The new design preserves the right turn lane, meaning that bikes and cars have to cross (as they do in practice right now). This is a potential conflict zone.

Here is Rob leaving a note to this effect.

There is another public consultation on Thursday, January 30 from 4-8 at Lithuanian House, 1573 Bloor Street West, if you want to see all of these materials in person.

The city is also collecting online feedback on this project until February 14.

This is a high priority project for the city’s cycling transportation unit. Hopefully things will go smoothly, and we can look forward to installation in August of this year.