Traffic congestion is…

Traffic congestion is experienced throughout Toronto due to construction & parked cars, whether there are bike lanes or not. The City of Toronto spent a great deal of money to make Bloor St. safer for pedestrians & cyclists by widening the sidewalk & putting in separate bike lanes. It also made the area more attractive for business. Advocates for ripping out the cycle lanes, should take the short walk along Bloor from Palmerston to Spadina. The cycle lanes are only one metre wide, so removing them would not even add one car lane. Either the parking lanes have to be removed or the sidewalk has to be narrowed (which is not feasible in some locations) or both. The latter would require relocation of the light poles, traffic light standards & many other amenities & the complete removal of trees & concrete flower beds. So the $248 million for such reconstruction might even be exceeded. I recently sat at Walmer & Bloor, waiting for a friend between 5:30 & 6:00 p.m. I noted that there was a flood of bicycles, often passing slower cyclists heading west - far more than the cars! If the cycle lanes are removed, where will these cyclists go? Very few of them will go to the side streets for the same reason that they don't go there now. The side streets are short & usually pour out onto major streets such as Spadina & Avenue Road. Cyclists will be forced to mix with the car & truck traffic. To waste so much money on a project that will cost limbs & lives is a crass & immoral political act.