ACTION: Big votes on ActiveTO, 2022-2024 bikeways, and more
This could be the reality for cycling across much more of Toronto with your support.
City Council’s final Infrastructure and Environment Committee (IEC) meeting of the year is on December 2, and the agenda includes hundreds of pages of City staff recommendations related to cycling under three broad categories.
Cycle Toronto has worked hard to advocate for many of the priorities listed in the City’s plan, and we are thrilled to see our recommendations adopted by the City. This has taken years of organizing, and we could not have gotten here without your support. Big votes are coming this month and we need your help to push them over the finish line!
Below is a brief summary of what’s ahead and what action you can take to ensure a better future for cycling in Toronto.
City staff recommendations are:
- ActiveTO: make permanent all of the temporary bike lanes installed in 2020. Details below.
- Cycling Plan Update (2022-2024): Every single one of our Move365 Connect campaigns are slated to move forward as well as many other neighbourhood routes and several other major roads. Details below.
- TransformTO: The goal for net-zero emissions is now 2040, moved up by ten years, with an interim target of 75% of work/school trips under 5 km will be taken by walking, cycling, or taking transit by 2030.
Keeping ActiveTO bikeways and committing to install and upgrade about 100 km of meaningful bikeway projects across the city in three years (up from 65 km in the last three) is an unprecedented commitment from Transportation Services. City staff have even released a Transportation Equity Lens Tool, an important new framework to guide project prioritization.
Where do we go from here?
The only way the City can achieve their 2022-2024 goals is if City staff can take advantage of routine roadway construction projects to transform them into complete streets projects. This is partly why 2022-2024 could see such a large growth in the network, because the City was able to add bikeways as part of major transit projects like the Eglinton LRT or Finch LRT, but these are one-time, not recurring projects.
In their report, the City notes that every year, more than 30 km of major roadways are rehabilitated, but the City Cycling unit is only able to add bikeways to about 15% of those projects due to many reasons, including current approval and design processes as well as staffing levels. That means typically around 85% of major roads are rebuilt without new or upgraded bikeways — a huge missed opportunity! To keep the momentum going beyond 2024, the City needs to implement a complete streets policy now in preparation for all future road rehabilitation projects.
How you can help
The Infrastructure & Environment Committee will vote on these cycling reports next Thursday, December 2, 2021, and will be followed by a City Council vote soon after.
We need you to write to City Council supporting City staff’s recommendations:
- Make all of the ActiveTO bikeways permanent and upgrade them
- Approve the proposed cycling network projects for 2022-2024 — these are meaningful projects City staff are proposing
- Streamline the bikeway adjustment process — less staff time writing detailed reports, more time being responsive to local community priorities by adjusting bikeways after installation
- Grow the staff team — meet the staffing levels that the City needs to hit its 2022-2024 implementation goals, and plan for a ramp-up in future years across various divisions to support the planning, designing, and installing of bikeways
Going forward, to help the City consistently deliver bikeways on all of those missed opportunities alongside major road rehabilitation projects, Cycle Toronto is also calling on City Council to:
- Ensure complete streets are the default — right now, only about 15% of road rehabilitation projects include a bikeway, meaning ~25 km of major bikeway opportunities are missed every year; considering a complete street design that includes space for all road users during road rehabilitation projects must become the rule, not the exception
Your support is what will make Toronto a safer, healthier, and more vibrant cycling city for all.
Kevin Rupasinghe
Campaigns Manager
ActiveTO bike lanes
The City has recommended making permanent all of the temporary bike lanes installed in 2020
- Bloor Street E
- Danforth Avenue
- Dundas Street E
- Huntingwood Drive
- University Avenue / Queen’s Park Crescent
- Wilmington Avenue
- Bayview Avenue multi-use path (Rosedale Valley Road to River Street)
Cycling Plan Update
All of our Move365 Campaigns are included in some form as well as many neighbourhood routes and several other major roads.
Move365 Campaigns
Scheduled for installation in 2022-2024:
- Connect Danforth east to Warden Avenue
- Connect Kingston (Cliffside Drive to Eglinton)
- Eglinton for Everyone (Jane Street to Kennedy Road)
- Connect Scarborough (Scarborough Golf Club Road, Ellesmere Road, Steeles Avenue)
- Connect Bloor extension west to Kipling Avenue
- Connect Sheppard (just east of Yonge Street to Leslie Street, upgrades in Scarborough)
Studies and/or upgrades:
- Connect Yonge (studies from Front Street to north of Lawrence Avenue)
- Connect Thorncliffe Park and Flemingdon Park (upgrade to Leaside Bridge, study on Overlea Boulevard, improved Don Mills Road and Overlea intersection)
The lists below do not include all neighbourhood routes, of which there are many. You can find the complete list here.
Etobicoke:
- Significant new bikeways or upgrades to existing (2022-2024):
- Bloor, Kipling to Runnymede
- Centennial Park-Mill, Eglinton to Burnhamthorpe
- Eglinton, Jane to Kennedy
- Finch, Keele to Hwy 27
- Martin Grove, Rathburn to Dundas W
- Queensway, Mimico Creek to Humber River
- Rathburn, East Mall to Centennial Park
- Tretheway, Weston to Eglinton
- Studies for future implementation
- Dundas W, Kingsway to Scarlett
- Etobicoke Hydro Corridor, Humber River to Kipling
- Keele-Jane, Eglinton to Steeles
- Martin Grove-Kipling, Finch to Eglinton
North York:
- Significant new bikeways or upgrades to existing (2022-2024):
- Bathurst, Steeles to Earl Bales
- East Don Trail, Don Mills to Eglinton
- Eglinton, Jane to Kennedy
- Leaside Bridge, Overlea to Donlands
- Overlea & Don Mills intersection
- Sheppard, Doris to Leslie
- Studies for future implementation
- Finch Hydro, Pineway to Pharmacy
- Jane-Keele, Eglinton to Steeles
- Overlea, Thorncliffe Park E to Don Mills
- Sheppard, Leslie to Brian
- Yonge, Davisville to Yonge Blvd
- Connection from Yonge to Bathurst across Hwy 401
Scarborough:
Significant new bikeways or upgrades to existing (2022-2024):
- Eglinton, Jane to Kennedy
- Danforth, Dawes to Warden
- Ellesmere, Highland Creek Trail to Morningside
- Huntingwood, Pharmacy to Kennedy
- Kingston, Cliffside to Eglinton
- Scarborough Golf Club, Ellesmere to Kingston
- Steeles, Kennedy to McCowan
- Studies for future implementation
- Midland & Brimley, Kingston to Steeles
- Warden Hydro Corridor, Finch Hydro Corridor to the Meadoway
Toronto / East York:
- Significant new bikeways or upgrades to existing (2022-2024):
- Bloor
- Extension Runnymede to Kipling
- Close gap Dundas W to Lansdowne
- Upgrade Spadina to Avenue
- Adelaide, Bathurst to Parliament
- Annette, Dundas W to Humbercrest
- College, Manning to Bay
- Danforth, Dawes to Warden
- Davenport, Dupont to Bay
- Dundas E, Broadview to Kingston
- Eglinton, Jane to Kennedy
- Esplanade, Yonge to Sherbourne
- Leaside Bridge, Donlands to Overlea
- Lower Don Trail, Carlton to Corktown
- Parliament, Bloor to Wellesley
- Rosedale Valley, Park to Bayview
- West Toronto Railpath Extension, Dundas W to Sudbury
- Bloor
- Studies for future implementation
- Avenue, Bloor to St. Clair
- Donlands, Pape to Danforth
- O’Connor-St Clair, Woodbine to Victoria Park
- Yonge, Davisville to Yonge Blvd
- Yonge, Davenport to Front
You can view the full set of reports and attachments for item IE26.9 - 2022-2024 Cycling Network Plan update, item IE26.10 - 2020 ActiveTO projects, and item IE26.16 - TransformTO climate action plan update on the City of Toronto's website.
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