Status: Motion for consideration at Infrastructure & Environment Committee
College Street is one of the busiest corridors for cycling in Toronto, with thousands of cycling trips per day, year-round. Road safety continues to be a primary concern for residents, with 25 vulnerable road users having been seriously injured on College Street between 2010 and 2020.
At its April 7, 2022 meeting, City Council authorized upgrades to College Street including the installation of separated cycle tracks from Manning Avenue to Bay Street. During public consultation for the College Street Upgrades project, residents expressed interest in extension of the bikeway further west.
To create a complete cycling route on College Street, and to complement the existing changes being made between Manning Ave and Bay St, this motion proposes a cycling project which would extend bikeways west to Lansdowne Ave.
In addition to road safety, creating a complete cycling connection on College Street will help the City meet our TransformTO goals of ensuring that 75% of trips under 5 kilometres are taken via active transportation by 2050. It will improve connectivity to existing infrastructure on the West Toronto Railpath and to other planned projects, including the Railpath extension, Bartlett-Havelock-Gladstone Cycling Connections project, and the Palmerston-Tecumseth Cycling Connections project. It will also support local businesses, as cycle track installation is shown to improve business spending on the corridors where they are located.
As part of this project, the motion recommends that consultation is conducted with local residents, businesses and vulnerable road users so that the project’s design is informed by the needs of community, and to ensure that safety is improved, active transportation is promoted, and local businesses are supported.
