Above you'll see a photo of one of Toronto's most bike-friendly councillors, Joe Mihevc, trying out the brand new Vaughan Road Bike Lane (which runs from St. Clair East to Winona).
From Joe's Newsletter:
The City installed a new bicycle lane on Vaughan Road between St. Clair Avenue and Winona Drive last month. The installation included a dedicated, signed bike lane with pavement markings on the north-bound side of Vaughan Road and a wide curb lane on the south-bound side. The wide curb lane is not considered a dedicated bike lane, but it will have signs installed indicating it is a bike route. The installation of the bikeway route signs were not part of this work, but should be installed later on in the Fall.
Parking on the north-bound side of Vaughan Road is not affected by the proposed bike lane and there currently is no parking on the south-bound side of Vaughan Road.
I am looking forward to trying out these new bikelanes the next time I'm in the area.
I have heard that some "advocates" in Toronto cycling circles are criticizing these new bikelanes, citing things such as the opening doors of parked cars encroaches on them, as well as that they're aren't many cyclists that use Vaughan Road.
Can you believe those reasons?
I can't.
Firstly, I agree that bikelanes right up against where cars park are a problem. New cyclists often forget about opening car doors (since they are usually pre-occupied with the moving vehicles on the other side fo them), and car occupants often forget to check for bikes before opening their doors. This is NOT a reason to abandon painting a new bikelane. New bikelanes create a sense of security for new and established cyclists alike, whether the "dooring" risk is present or not.
The argument that this bikelane is "not where cyclists are" does not make sense. Using this logic, there should never be bikelanes installed anywhere in the city (or the suburbs) where there are no cyclists. There are very few cyclists in places like Scarborough and North York because the roads are planned around the car. The installation of bikelanes in areas like this tell residents that the road is now safer for them if they are on their bikes.
Thanks for your work in support of "active transportation" Joe Mihevc. The more bikelanes the better, especially where cyclist numbers are low (for now).The Vaughan Road Bikelane has been added to the Toronto Bikelanes Map.
Labels: infrastructure, news
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