June 15 Update: City Council has approved the installation of bi-directional cycle track on Gerrard Street East between Parliament Street and Sumach Street. A copy of the staff report is available at IE4.3.
The City of Toronto is proposing changes on Gerrard Street East between Sherbourne Street and Parliament Street, as part of scheduled 2023 road reconstruction and to fulfill the City’s commitment the Vision Zero Road Safety Plan. The City is also proposing changes to Gerrard Street East between Parliament Street and Sumach Street, as part of the on-going redevelopment of Regent Park.
With both road reconstruction between Sherbourne Street and Parliament Street and private redevelopment efforts in Regent Park, there is a unique opportunity to upgrade the roadway, improve the streetscape, and include other enhancements to the public realm.
May 30, 2023: Transportation Services is seeking City Council authority to install a proposed bi-directional cycle track on the south side of Gerrard Street East between Parliament Street and Sumach Street. If approved, this cycling facility would be timed with the installation of the Gerrard Street Complete Street project between Sherbourne Street and Parliament Street in 2024-2025.
As part of the approval process, staff will report to the Infrastructure and Environment Committee of City Council on June 5, 2023 on Item IE4.3. A copy of the staff report, which is included in a report on a series of Cabbagetown Connection projects is available here.
Members of the public can arrange to speak or submit comments to the Committee. If you want to speak at the meeting, you must contact the Infrastructure and Environment Committee Administrator at 416-396-7287 or iec@toronto.ca by 4:30 p.m. on June 4, 2023.
You can also submit comments by emailing the Committee at iec@toronto.ca. Communications and public submissions will become part of the public record and will be listed in the legislative record of the meeting. The following link tells you a little bit more about this process: http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/tmmis/have-your-say.htm.
You may also send comments by mail:
Infrastructure and Environment Committee
Attn: Committee Administrator
Toronto City Hall, Floor 10, West Tower
100 Queen Street West
Toronto, ON M5H 2N2
February 15, 2023: Gerrard Street from Sherbourne Street to Parliament Street is planned for road reconstruction due to the poor condition of the road. A road reconstruction is the most cost effective time to make major changes to a street and apply Council-adopted policies such as TransformTO and Vision Zero.
Since 2022, the City of Toronto’s Transportation Services Division has been working on the Gerrard Street Complete Street Project. In May 2022, staff received feedback through the public consultation process on preliminary designs and have made design changes based on several key concerns, including parking and accessibility. These changes were summarized and shared in a project update posted in October 2022. In July 2022, the project received Council approval to proceed to detailed design and construction (see Council decision).
Since the approval of the report, Transportation Services and Engineering and Construction Services Division have begun work on the detailed design and construction planning of the complete street project.
Initially the road reconstruction project was planned for 2023. The road reconstruction is now planned to commence in 2024, due to the complexities of the utility coordination at the Sherbourne Street intersection, as well as the new Ontario Regulation for Excess Soil Best Practices (O. Reg. 406/19). The need for additional geotechnical investigation is also required to incorporate the green infrastructure details.
Updates to the public will be provided on the project website as the project progresses.
October 17, 2022: Based on feedback received during public consultation, staff have revised preliminary designs: Summary of Design Changes
July 2022: City Council authorized improvements to existing bikeways on Gerrard Street East between Sherbourne Street and Parliament Street. A copy of the staff report is available under IEC agenda item IE 31.12.
June 29, 2022: Now available: Public Consultation Report
June 7, 2022: The minutes of the May 17, 2022 public meeting are now available: Public Meeting Minutes
Design Features
The City is also in tandem exploring future opportunities to improve safety and accessibility for all road users between Parliament Street and St. Matthew’s Road and Blackburn Street. Changes may include:
While we aim to provide fully accessible content, there is no text alternative available for some of the content on this page. If you require alternate formats or need assistance understanding our maps, drawings, or any other content, please contact Dominic.Cobran3@toronto.ca.
The project will engage stakeholders, including businesses, resident groups, and community organizations along Gerrard Street, between Sherbourne Street and St Matthew’s Road and Blackburn Street.
The virtual public meeting was held on May 17, 2022 at 6:30 pm.
Please note that although the formal consultation period is now closed, you may still email Dominic.Cobran3@toronto.ca for questions, clarifications and other updates. A report of public consultation activities can be found under the ‘project updates’ tab of this webpage.
Complete Streets – Complete streets are streets that are designed to be safe for all users: people who walk, bicycle, take transit or drive, and people of varying ages and levels of ability. They also consider other uses like sidewalk cafés, street furniture, street trees, utilities, and stormwater management.
Road Reconstruction– This is the primary scope of this complete street project. It will include reconstruction of the roadway pavement and sidewalks. The overhaul of the current road infrastructure presents the city with a unique opportunity to include other improvements in the scope of work, including:
Watermain Replacement – The City will replace the watermain and the City-owned portion of substandard water services between Sherbourne Street and Parliament Street. Coordination of this replacement with the road reconstruction allows for minimized cost and disruption to the community.
Widened Sidewalks – Current sidewalks are 1.4 to 1.7 metres wide, and the passable space is only 1.0 m wide at some constrained locations. The City is proposing to widen sidewalks to 2.1 metres where possible to meet the City’s standard outlined in Toronto Accessibility Design Guidelines or absolute minimum 1.5 metres to meet the Province’s Accessibility Regulations. The widened sidewalks allow for simultaneous passage of two persons using mobility devices (e.g. a wheelchair).
Curb Extensions – Curb extensions visually and physically narrow the roadway, creating safer and shorter crossings for pedestrians while increasing the available space for street furniture, benches, plantings, and street trees. They may be implemented on downtown, neighborhood, and residential streets, both large and small.
Curb Radii Reductions – Curb radii reductions reduce angled corners at intersections, improving road safety, as crossing distances for pedestrians and vehicles making turns is reduced, thereby reducing the possibility of collisions. They also help to slow down right turning vehicles.
Raised Crosswalk– Raised crosswalks are being proposed at all un-signalized intersections. This will increase driver awareness of crosswalks and will require them to slow down. It can also improve the visibility of people walking and also reduce build-up of water and other elements at intersections. A dedicated crossing area for people cycling is also proposed to run parallel to pedestrian crossings.
Crossride– A crossride is dedicated space at an intersection, identified by unique pavement markings, for cyclists to legally ride their bicycle through an intersection without dismounting. A crossride may appear alongside a pedestrian crosswalk as a separate facility.
Layby Parking – The proposed design includes area of dedicated layby parking. Some of the dedicated space will allow for loading and unloading of TTC’s Wheel Trans buses making it easier to access community spaces such as the Toronto Public Library or the Yonge Street Mission Davis Centre.
Bi-Directional Cycle Track- This is being proposed along the corridor from Sherbourne Street to Parliament Street. The bi-directional cycle tracks will be separated from sidewalks and vehicular traffic to provide safety for all users on the street.
Left Turn Queue Boxes – Staff are proposing to add this safety measure for people cycling at the intersection of Gerrard Street East and Sherbourne Street. This feature allows people cycling to wait and observe traffic signal instructions in a space separate from other road users.
Protected Island Design – Raised concrete islands are proposed to physically separate cyclists from vehicles at Sherbourne Street intersection.
Green Infrastructure – Green infrastructure is the natural vegetative systems and green technologies that collectively provide the street with a multitude of economic, environmental, health and social benefits. This can be in the form of permeable pavement, bio-retention planters and rain gardens to name a few, These elements will not only enhance the streetscape, but also acts as a safety feature by separating the cycle track from motor vehicle travel lanes and sidewalks.
Mixed-Use Shared Street – Shared Streets are most often found in areas supported by a high level of pedestrian activity, usually in mixed-use areas in the Downtowns and Centres but can also be found in residential neighbourhoods. Shared Streets are streets that blend and blur the spaces and zones of the street – sometimes designed without curbs. Different modes share the space together, but pedestrians typically have the highest priority. This is one scenario being considered for the Anniversary Park connection across the Gerrard Street East slip lane on the north side of the park.
Future Cycling Connections – The proposed design will connect to future north/south cycling routes along Sumach Street and/or Sackville Street from Wellesley Street to Shuter Street. Although these future cycling facilities are not part of the current project scope, the proposed design would help facilitate these connections to create a more robust cycling network in the area.
Want to be added to the project list? Please email Dominic Cobran, Senior Coordinator at Dominic.Cobran3@toronto.ca