Trading Ambition for Implementation

In advance of our upcoming workshop and speaking engagement in Toronto, we connected with local bike advocacy blog, dandyhorse magazine, to get on-the-ground information about the transportation infrastructure in the area. Chuck will be speaking about designing world class transportation systems, as well as Complete Streets, so dandyhorse had excellent input on these subjects.  

Recently, they wrote about the City of Toronto finally putting words into action to build better cycling infrastructure:

Toronto's largest ever rally for cycling safety

City Hall in Toronto can be criticized for many shortcomings when it comes to cycling infrastructure, but not for a lack of proposing, planning, assessing, and debating of bike lanes. The problem has always been in implementation. Thankfully, the latest iteration of the City’s bike plan includes the word “implementation”, the year “2016”, and even the street name “Bloor.”

To be sure, the 2016 implementation program (part of the Ten Year Cycling Network Plan: Project Update and 2016 Implementation Program) is modest, and even if fully implemented will only see new bike lanes on 20 km of Toronto streets. (The City is now counting bike lanes on each side of the road; so by that method we would see 40 km.)

Each of the additions for next year are short, often filling in gaps, some measured in hundreds of metres. One of the longest new bike lanes would be on Bloor St. from Avenue Rd. to Shaw St. – a distance of about 2.5 km. Although this isn’t much, it’s a huge step forward in the almost 40 years since the first corridor study for Bloor was completed for the City by the consultant Barton-Aschman.

You can read the rest of the article, "Trading Ambition for Implementation," here.