The City of Toronto has installed cycle tracks, bicycle lanes and sharrows on Woodbine Avenue (between O’Connor Drive and Queen Street East). To complete the bikeway network east of Woodbine Avenue, a connecting contra-flow bike lane was also installed on Corley Avenue (between Woodbine Avenue and Brookside Drive) and sharrows were installed in the westbound direction of traffic flow on Norway Avenue (between Woodbine Avenue and Elmer Avenue). Installation of the contra-flow bicycle lane on Corley Ave from Woodbine Ave to Brookside Dr and sharrows on neighbourhood streets was completed in August 2019.
These cycling facilities provide important cycling network connections for east-end neighbourhoods, encourage more people to cycle, and improve the safety and comfort of all road users.
As part of road resurfacing between Ventnor Avenue to Cosburn Avenue, the City is also planning to upgrade the existing bike lanes to cycle tracks by adding a physical buffer between people cycling and people driving or parking, which creates a safer and more comfortable cycling environment. In addition, raised TTC bus/bike platforms will be constructed soutbound at Plains Road and northbound at Cosburn Avenue to improve safety for bus operators, transit riders and people cycling. This work is expected to begin in June 2024.
In April to May 2022, the City of Toronto installed cycling, traffic, and parking changes on Woodbine Avenue between Kingston Road to Gerrard Street East, including:
Please see the Installation Notice for more details.
Woodbine, Corley and Norway bike lanes are part of in The 10 Year Cycling Network Plan’s 2016 Implementation Program to expand and improve Toronto’s streets for cycling. These new bike lanes provided important connections to the larger cycling network and east end neighbourhoods.
The City considered the following issues and perspectives:
The introduction of cycling facilities (a combination cycle tracks and bike lanes) on Woodbine Avenue has resulted in an increased number of people cycling. Based on bike counts before (2016) and after (2018) the installation of these cycling facilities, the number of people cycling on Woodbine Avenue has more than doubled.
Bicycle counts on Woodbine Avenue south of Danforth Avenue for July 2018 saw as many as 580 cyclists on a single day which increased from 425 cyclists per day from October 2017. No before counts are available for this location.
The average motor vehicle travel times on Woodbine Avenue for northbound and southbound directions between O’Connor Drive and Queen Street East from May 2016 and May 2018 were compared for the morning (7 to 10 a.m.), mid-day (11 a.m. to 1 p.m.) and afternoon (4 to 7 p.m.) peak hours.
AM and mid-day peak hours experienced minimal changes to travel times (+/- less than a minute). The PM peak hours experience moderate increase in travel time of up to 2.5 minutes. Table below summarizes the changes in average travel times on Woodbine Avenue.
| Street | May 2016 (in minutes) | May 2018 (in minutes) | Change 2018-2016 (in minutes) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Woodbine Southbound | 0:08:36 | 0:09:05 | + 0:00:29 |
| Woodbine Northbound | 0:08:23 | 0:08:41 | + 0:00:18 |
| Street | May 2016 (in minutes) | May 2018 (in minutes) | Change 2018-2016 (in minutes) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Woodbine Southbound | 0:08:20 | 0:08:19 | – 0:00:01 |
| Woodbine Northbound | 0:07:33 | 0:08:48 | + 0:01:15 |
| Street | May 2016 (in minutes) | May 2018 (in minutes) | Change 2018-2016 (in minutes) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Woodbine Southbound | 0:08:20 | 0:10:32 | + 0:02:13 |
| Woodbine Northbound | 0:09:16 | 0:11:57 | + 0:02:41 |
In order to address concerns that some traffic could be diverting away from Woodbine Avenue to area side streets, volume and/or speed studies were conducted for some parallel and cross streets within Ward 31 and Ward 32. These streets included Woodmount Avenue (between Danforth Avenue and O’Connor Drive), Savoy Avenue east of Woodbine Avenue and Heyworth Crescent east of Woodbine Avenue.
Two new traffic control signals required to connect the Woodbine Avenue cycling facilities from Dixon Avenue to the Waterfront Trail were approved by City Council on July 30, 2018.
Parking adjustments were approved by City Council on July 23, 2018.
Following extensive public consultation in 2016 and 2017, the installation of cycle tracks and bicycle lanes on Woodbine Avenue and an eastbound contra-flow bicycle lane on Corley Avenue was approved by Council on October 5, 2016.
Under the Public Transit Infrastructure Fund (PTIF) – Phase 1, the Government of Canada is investing up to $250,000 for the Woodbine Bike Lanes Design and Installation project. The City of Toronto is matching this funding contribution.