The Junction Residents Association is collaborating with the City of Toronto Transportation Services on a project to enhance the bikeway network on High Park Avenue and we are seeking feedback from Junction residents.
We are looking for preliminary information only and your feedback is not final support. Full public consultation meetings will be conducted by the city if preliminary community feedback indicates support for the bike lane option.
Two options are being considered;
Sharrow Markings – Sharrow Markings on High Park Avenue from Bloor Street to Glenlake Avenue plus a Shared Roadway from Glenlake to Dundas Street. This option improves safety in the busiest section of the street but most of High Park Avenue will remain the same. No on-street parking will be removed in the process.
Bike Lanes – Sharrow Markings on High Park Avenue from Bloor to Glenlake Avenue, Bike Lanes from Glenlake to Annette Street and Sharrow Markings from Annette Street to Dundas Street.
This option improves the bicycling environment with the safety of bikes lanes and provides a connection between the Junction, High Park and subway station. Accommodating the bike lanes between Glenlake and Annette Street will require the city to remove on-street parking on one side of the street similar to the changes we now see on Annette Street.
Please add comments here and vote in our online poll. The poll will be closed on September 14, 2010.
Your JRA has surveyed and colleted comments from High Park Ave residents separately as they will be directly affected by any changes. Our completely unscientific online poll is to gauge the general opinion of Junction residents.
What would you like to see on High Park Ave?
- Bike lanes (45%, 13 Votes)
- Sharrows (34%, 10 Votes)
- No change (21%, 6 Votes)
Total Voters: 29
Loading ...The follow are pictures from the City of Toronto Website about bikelane, for more details please visit www.toronto.ca/cycling/network/index.htm
Bike lanes are a dedicated space for cyclists
where motorists are not allowed to park, stand or drive.
Sharrows are used in shared lanes to indicate the ideal
cyclist position in the lane (away from the curb and parked cars)
and to remind drivers to share the road. Sharrows are marked
on the roadway with two white chevrons and a bicycle symbol.
Shared roadways (or signed routes) are designated
by bikeway network signage as preferred routes for cycling,
but no physical changes are made to the roadway. Shared roadways are
usually found on residential streets with lower traffic volumes.
Taking away on street parking in this neighbourhood is a problem. Many of the bigger houses are rentals and there are multiple cars. More than two or three in some cases. What has come to notice lately and to the concern of many street residents is that people are starting to park on lawns. This kills the lawn so that when the cars aren’t there it looks bad and when they are there looks bad. They should be parking on the street..it may be lack of space or maybe they just don’t want to pay for a permit, but it is an issued and should be part of the consideration.
I don’t see any difference between having sharrows and nothing. Sharrows in my mind don’t really improve saftey as they don’t provide any seperate riding space for cyclists.
While I definitely support bike lanes, I’m not sure it would be so effective to just have them from Glenlake to Annette. The purpose of bike lanes should be to create continous routes where people can safely cycle on street. What’s the point of riding on the sidewalk from Bloor to Glenlake, then going onto the road from Glenlake to Annette, then back on the sidewalk from Annette to Dundas?
Sure, I suppose it would be an improvement over nothing, but the city really needs to think about creating continous routes that help you get from A to B. I would be in support of having bike lanes all the way from Bloor to Dundas.
I don’t see why cycling infrastructure is needed on High Park Avenue. It seems like a “feel good – we’re supporting cycling” project. It doesn’t have the volume of cars as an arterial road and the single lane in each direction is unusually wide. I never feel uncomfortable cycling down this street. It’s streets like Bloor that could use a bike lane.
We don’t need any more traffic On high Park ave
Most cyclist with children use the sidewalk anyway.High Park is a neighbourhood street and not a through street as everybody uses during rush hours. It is impossible to back out of your driveway in the morning without endanger your life. We have to litterly get out on the street and stop the traffic. Most cars will stop, some will actually drive on the opposite lane, as far as cyclists they will do anything to avoid stopping. The residence of High Park don’t need this type of additude in our neighbourhood.
Maybe it’s about time that cyclist be tested and licenced to drive on our roadways.
We don’t need any more signs markings or green light activated pads on our streets.
Larry
Bike Paths etc. etc. are Not required. It’s the vehicle traffic that has to be straightened out and controlled a lot better.
Susan
?? I know of at least 6 people who have voted no change, but they are not shown on your website??
Hello Elizabeth,
The JRA has not removed any votes from the poll and we have no reason to do so. Our survey is simply documenting the community position.
With our HPA resident survey we asked people to email or call so we had an accurate count of how the on street residents feel. This online poll is really to get an idea of what the greater Junction thinks of bike lanes on HPA.
If your friends have voted for no change they may have done it via email or over the phone.
Barbi, my experience proves completely otherwise. I bike along Hallam every day and I have to see a driver intrude on the “sharrows” at all. Same with Lansdowne, which is fairly narrow.
I personally notice a huge difference between biking on roads with sharrows and roads with no markings at all.
I agree with A.R. – I have never felt unsafe riding along High Park. In my opinion, busy arterial roads such as Bloor & Dundas are far more in need of safe riding space.
I also agree with Deanne and A.R. There are many more streets in this city that are far more dangerous for cyclists. I do not understand why the JRA is considering this on a residential street with a low speed limit. I am a new cyclist too and am scared to ride on streets busier than Annette and I am definitely not scared to ride on High Park in between Dundas and Bloor. My husband and I missed out on the poll and both vote “no change.”
Bike lanes are under-utilized, and also convey unjustified ownership of a part of public space. I like the idea of sharrows, and I think all on road bike lanes should be removed and replaced with them. Lane configurations should be returned to their former dual lane structure. No left turn only lanes, and certainly no more traffic lights in our area. Congestion in the junction area is a joke, and does nothing to increase public safety. We need to declutter the environment. Right now our streets in this city are a horrible eyesore.
I don’t use bike lanes at all because I know too many people who got knocked off by cars veering into their handlebars. I wish for the Finnish solution…bikes between the parked cars and the sidewalk.