Anthony Marcusa –
Reconstruction of The Esplanade is encountering a rough road of opposition to upgraded bicycle lanes and limitations on vehicular traffic. The project, approved by City Council four years ago, is nearing completion.
“The city has two mandates: safety of citizens and fiscal accountability,” Brenda MacDougall, a resident on The Esplanade for more than 30 years, told the bridge. “I think the city is failing on both. They are creating unsafe situations.”
She said the raised bike lanes present problems for residents with accessibility needs, local businesses welcoming customers, and emergency vehicles getting to the area quickly.
To reduce traffic, improve safety and welcome more people to the area, the city undertook a multi-year project after public consultations in 2021. In addition to bikeways, the changes involved making The Esplanade one-way westbound for motor vehicles at three different intervals, along with a one-way eastbound segment. Between Sherbourne and Princess Streets, vehicular traffic is to be prohibited.
The final phase of construction is under way, raising bikeways and pedestrian crossings to sidewalk level. They’re part of the David Crombie Park Revitalization project, intended to increase green space and recreational areas while incorporating Indigenous placekeeping from east of Jarvis Street to Parliament Street.
MacDougall points to the bike lanes on Queens Quay, south of the Gardiner Expressway and railway tracks. “Do [we] really need the bike lanes up here?”
She questioned the project continuing to completion despite the Ford government’s Bill 212, which requires provincial approval for new bikeways that reduce lanes for cars. She had assumed the project, which she said no one in the area was consulted on, would be stopped. She said the raised bike lanes present a problem for residents with accessibility needs, local businesses welcoming customers, and emergency vehicles getting to the area quickly.
“I’d be happy if they woke up and said, ‘we’re going to stop where we are right now and we’re going to listen to the people, the businesses, EMS, and look at this again.”
A city spokesperson told the bridge in an email the construction is in compliance with regulations.
“The City competitively awarded a contract in March 2024 to build a bikeway on The Esplanade, between east of Yonge Street and Market Street, as part of watermain, sewer, and road work. Because this contract was awarded before the [Bill 212] rules took effect, the City can move forward with the Esplanade-Mill Street Connection project as approved by City Council.”
Arthur Klimowicz, a cycling advocate and longtime area resident, told the bridge that the reconstruction is more than a cycling project. “This has got everything to do with the neighbourhood [being] really clogged with traffic. It was scary and uncomfortable walking The Esplanade.”
“It’s a street that had such wonderful potential, and it was an absolute miserable failure. It was a difficult strip, and now it’s a treat.”
Donna Patterson, another resident, agrees that the project is not just about bike lanes.
“The city wanted to reduce non-local car traffic, reduce travel time for the 121 bus [Esplanade-River], and improve safety for people on bikes and walking,” she told the bridge. “Non-local car traffic has been reduced, the bus is much faster and more reliable, and the bike lane very well used.”
Patterson and Klimowicz, members of Toronto Community Bikeways Coalition (TCBC) as well as Cycle Toronto, a group staunchly opposed to Bill 212, say there was plenty of consultation by the city. The results have brought more people to the neighbourhood while increasing safety, they say.
The two also laud police enforcement of the new traffic rules. “The police have stopped people,” said Patterson. “They’ve given tickets for going the wrong way, doing things that are really unsafe. The police cleaned it up.”
Bike lane construction is scheduled to finish on June 30.
2 Comments
My God – this is such a colossal waste of time, money and endangers FAR MORE people than they care to admit – especially the elderly and disabled. There are 3 times more disabled people than cyclists in this city, but they cater to the lobbyists pushing for these seriously disruptive bike lanes.
Cyclists are NOT LICENSED, NOR do they have INSURANCE. So when pedestrians get hit by these bikes (and its happening way too often), NOTHING can be done about it. Too many cyclists are bullies weaving on and off sidewalks and cutting corners on roads NOT obeying the Ontario Traffic Act. Common Sense has left the building.
The bike lanes need to go and the one way traffic and bus only lanes was another colossal move by the seriously uneducated folks at city hall.
Many cyclists don’t slow down or stop that’s true but I rarely see any bikes on the sidewalk (maybe that’s because we now have.. bike lanes?). Overall the roads are much quieter and safer for all road users (how quickly we forget what these intersections used to be like). I’d be interested to hear some constructive ideas about how to rein in bad cyclists (banning bike lanes is a lazy solution).