Flip-flop on bike lane freezes $1M Jarvis makeover

The Jarvis St. bike lanes were installed last July. Colin McConnell/Toronto Star

A city committee vote to remove the 11-month-old bike lanes from Jarvis St. has derailed a $1 million makeover that would have greened the street and sped up car commutes, says the ward’s councillor.

Kristyn Wong-Tam says colleague John Parker (Ward 26, Don Valley West), an ally of Mayor Rob Ford, did not consult her before moving a last-minute motion to kill the lanes at Thursday’s public works meeting.

Parker’s motion, made after hours of public deputations on a proposed network of downtown separated bike lanes, quickly passed 4-2.

City staff said Friday that, if councillors confirm the decision next month, they will have two options: Put a fifth car lane in the road’s centre for left turns by north- and southbound traffic, at a cost of about $80,000. Or resurrect the reversible centre lane, which would cost “considerably more,” because of the need to reinstall overhead signals.

Wong-Tam (Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale) said Parker had no idea she was working with city staff and residents on a major redesign of the Jarvis-Charles St. intersection to accommodate an influx of new residents.

Greenery, new features to improve street life, straightening out a “weird jog” in Jarvis and synchronizing stop lights to improve flow, all funded with so-called Section 37 funds already earmarked, are suddenly on hold, she said.

“What Councillor Parker did was irresponsible. This looks like a vengeful move to take away the bike lanes,” she said. “That’s not good urban planning.”

Parker did not respond to the Star’s interview request.

The lanes were installed last July at a cost of $65,000 amid fury from some Rosedale and Moore Park residents.

They said losing a fifth lane in the road’s centre, which changed from northbound to southbound depending on the time of day, would prolong their commutes, and that bike lanes already exist a block away on parallel Sherbourne St.

A city report released in April said the lanes added anywhere from zero to four minutes to car commutes, depending on direction and time of day. Bike traffic on Jarvis, on the other hand, was up 30 per cent.

Tim Costigam, president of the Moore Park Resident’s Association, was delighted by Thursday’s vote.

“We are strong advocates for better bike lanes in the city, in the right location,” Costigam said, adding that, based on his observations during daily commutes up and down Jarvis, the city’s estimates on commuting delay and bike traffic are “hard to believe.”

Cyclist Harry Song, meanwhile, locking up his bike near Jarvis and Gerrard St., was confused by the flip-flop after less than a year.

“I thought they were going the other way — I thought they were putting more lanes in, not taking them away,” Song said. “What are they doing? It doesn’t seem like they have a set plan.”

Public works chair Denzil Minnan-Wong said he favours returning Jarvis to the reversing centre lane for traffic.

“I thought it was cool — it was six lanes for the price of five,” he said.

Minnan-Wong rejected allegations the Ford administration has launched a “war on the bike,” saying the city spent $21.7 million on cycling infrastructure during former mayor David Miller’s last four-year term, while the current five-year plan totals $43.7 million.

David Rider, Urban Affairs Bureau Chief

Comments

[JC]

Shouldn't that be "bike traffic increased 300%" and not 30%?

[Wayne Scott]

Any city councilors successfully opting to remove existing cycling-safer infrastructure must bear partial responsibility for any future injury to - and/or god forbid, fatality of - their actively mobile constituents involved in relevant collisions with motor vehicles.

Perhaps we should be asking why this health and safety issue is left up to the political whim of our elected - but often here, totally unqualified - representatives, on a block by block basis.

Now you're safer, now you're not - all based on little more than the self-serving biases of those who our illustrious federal finance minister, Jim Flaherty, characterized as glorified pothole fixers. And this makes even less sense when the current state of our roads indicates they can't even handle that mundane task satisfactorily.

As has been widely recognized worldwide, 21st century urban realities (smog, traffic congestion, climate change emissions, road carnage, etc) demand that we expand our active transport (bike lane) network into a city-wide infrastructure improvement project.

Tearing out what little of that system already exists merely chains our city and we, her citizens, to the cumulative transportation mistakes of our past.

[JohnnyD]

300% not 30%

Bike traffic is up 300% since the installation of the bike lanes. And according to City staff, much of the added time for car traffic is due to a poorly timed left turn signal.

[Graham W.]

Jarvis Street is much safer and much easier to drive with the bike lanes and two traffic lanes north and south. With the switchable lane in the centre, you were always on guard for cars making sudden lane changes and sudden left turns from the opposite direction. Now traffic flows in a much more orderly pattern and cyclists are on the sides and safely out of the way. I have been driving on Jarvis Street for 45 years !

[Cavendish]

Our mayor and his allies seem to react without research or thought. First there was the expensive and idiotic reversal of Transit City, a terrific plan that was quickly quashed without proper evaluation by Mr. Ford.

Now, this sneaky, last-minute decision to remove the Jarvis bike lanes and with it, other associated initiatives. I suggest the Mayor concentrate on his election promise to cut 'the gravy' and leave urban cycling alone. He must remember that removing bike lanes will not remove bikes. Cyclists will still travel these roads; only under conditions that will make it far more unsafe for both cyclists and motorists.

[Terry]

I thought Ford's administration did not have money? So now they have money to undo a great city initiative for bicyclists. It shows you where Ford's priorities - along with his minions - lie..... Meanwhile, bike lanes will be removed before promised ones are built.

[J. MacMillan]

I live on this corner. It's the most hostile intersection in the city for pedestrians. To cross on the south side, you have to detour completely around the intersection through FOUR, repeat FOUR, walk lights.

Furthermore.. during construction of the X Condo on the northwest corner, the west lane of Jarvis (aka Ted Rogers Way) was blocked for about 3 years. It opened for a few months and is blocked off again for Monarch's Couture condo. Clearly, the lane is NOT needed. The Jarvis bike lanes could be extended to Bloor.

X Condo is 44 stories. Couture will be 44 stories. On the south-west corner, X2 will be 49 stories. There will soon be a LOT more people, likely many of them pedestrians, at this intersection. It galls me that people who don't live in the area continue to view Jarvis Street as an urban highway. It is my local street!

How ironic that a BIXI bike rack is right beside the Roger's building a stone's throw from the intersection.

Furthermore, streets are for all people, not just for those who own cars. I attended the public meetings where there was almost universal support for remaking Jarvis street. The street is much safer now for cycling and if it costs a few more minutes for cars, then too bad. Learn to share! Better yet, get a bike and go for a ride.