Why University Avenue Bike Lanes will Work

First of all, I give Rocco Rossi a bit of credit - the Beverley and St. George bike lanes are indeed great. Little does he know, however, in applauding the great bike lane we have there, he is in fact endorsing reducing car lanes and bringing us to something he does not pay much attention to: the truth.

source: Transport Canada

Transport Canada cites St. George Street as a best practice example in road diets, a concept in road design where travel lanes are reduced and is rebalanced to provide more space for cyclists and pedestrians. St. George Street, despite losing one travel lane in each direction, still carries the same number of vehicles it did before the diet, the number of collisions decreased by 40%, and the number of cyclists increased by 10%. Most importantly, it’s created a place in the heart of the University of Toronto campus, and is often described as one of the most pleasant places to be in the city.

So onto Rossi’s assertion that adding a segregated bike facility on University, the first of its kind in the city, will cause GRIDLOCK! There are two things completely wrong with this assertion. First, University Avenue has excess road capacity, and operates at an above acceptable level of service throughout the day. And second, it may come as a complete surprise to Rossi, but my belief is that reducing University Avenue by one lane in each direction will actually improve vehicular flow. 

UNIVERSITY AVENUE IS NOT AT RISK OF ‘GRIDLOCK!’

I ride my bike up and down University Avenue on a daily basis on my commute, and I have seldom encountered these ‘gridlock’ conditions Rocco Rossi is speaking about. In fact, it is quite the opposite. There is excess capacity even during rush hour. These photos taken on my bike ride home this afternoon between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m. prove this excess capacity.

University Avenue at Queen Street, looking north, at 5:45pm

What may appear as ‘GRIDLOCK!’ at Gerrard Street…

…cleared within 10 seconds of green time

The greatest irony is that in this location where I observed the greatest northbound delay in car travel, it was caused because of the advance southbound left turn signal. As a result, the northbound traffic is delayed by several additional seconds. So in this case, it is actually cars causing ‘GRIDLOCK!’, not cyclists. 

Finally, a look at picturesque Queen’s Park. Check out all that ‘GRIDLOCK!’ blocking the view of this fine piece of architecture.

I will take similar shots during the morning rush hour tomorrow to document alleged ‘GRIDLOCK!’ conditions.

HOW UNIVERSITY AVENUE COULD IMPROVE WITH BIKE LANES

My theory, that similar to St. George Street, and with many successful road ‘diets’, reducing University Avenue by one lane in each direction, between Wellesley/Hoskin and Richmond Street will in fact improve traffic operation on the street. Why? University Avenue is inconsistently configured, leading to bottlenecks, constant lane changing, and confusion for unfamiliar drivers. Here is how the street is inconsistent:

• North of Bloor Street, Avenue Road is a six-lane roadway
• Between Bloor Street and College Street, Queen’s Park Circle is a couplet of two three-lane one-way roads
• Between College and Richmond Streets, where the segregated bike lane is planned, is where University Avenue widens to an eight-lane roadway
• South of Richmond, University Avenue squeezes down to six-lanes again, and finally, south of Wellington Street, squeezes to four-lanes.

It is at the Wellington Squeeze, as I will call it, that congestion becomes a problem, as impatient drivers try to cut around cars. Similar issues occur at Bloor Street and Richmond Street, where the street narrows. So when the segregated bike lane is placed into the eight-lane section of University, it will finally standardize the road configuration throughout its length.

IN CONCLUSION…

I am absolutely certain that if there was a serious risk of ‘GRIDLOCK!’, the Transportation Department would not be proposing such a bold move without further study. You see, I trust the bureaucrats that run our City, who have dedicated their education and careers to their field. Should the public trust them? Or should they trust Rocco Rossi, whose only expertise is in divide and conquer politics, grandstanding, and manipulation of the truth.