Toronto City Council has voted unanimously in favour of making the Richmond-Adelaide Cycle Track pilot, including cycle tracks on Peter Street and Simcoe Street, permanent.
The cycle tracks were installed between 2014 and 2016. As of fall 2018, there was an average of 6,160 weekday cyclists, in good weather, travelling on Richmond Street and Adelaide Street, making them the most-travelled cycle tracks in Toronto. During the pilot, the rate of cyclist collisions decreased by 73 per cent and serious motor vehicle collisions decreased by 18 per cent.
Improvements planned for these routes to further improve cyclist and pedestrian safety and vehicle traffic flow will include:
• Moving the existing cycle track on Adelaide Street from the south side to the north side of the street
• Installing protected eastbound left turns and/or right-turn bike boxes at several signalized intersections on Adelaide Street, between Bathurst and Parliament Streets
• Providing a greater degree of separation between cyclists and vehicles through the placement of temporary concrete barriers within the buffer zone
• Improving bus stops to increase safety for cyclists and TTC operators and better accommodate TTC customers
• Installing pavement marking modifications and making corridor traffic signal timing modifications, where necessary.
More information about the City’s ten year cycling network plan is available at http://ow.ly/UNYV30nvfSp.
More information about cycling in Toronto is available at http://www.toronto.ca/cycling.
Quotes
“We are investing in safe, separated on-street bike lanes on major downtown roadways. The Richmond-Adelaide cycle tracks are an important investment in cycling infrastructure that provides another option for people to move about our city quickly and safely.”
Mayor John Tory
“The Richmond-Adelaide cycle tracks are already the most travelled in the city. Making them permanent is the beginning of what will lead to much-needed improvements to our infrastructure that will contribute to a better and more successful cycling network.”
Councillor James Pasternak (Ward 6 York Centre), Chair of the Infrastructure & Environment Committee
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