Ring road for bikes on track

Gaps remain in Humber, Don, Waterfront trails

On a recent sunny Saturday afternoon, a cyclist heading south from the top of the city along the Humber River trail spots an Indian family's picnic in Rowntree Mills Park, the saris of the relaxing women providing a colourful foreground to the green grass.

A bit farther south, the cyclist dodges a two-foot yellow garter snake, which quickly slithers off the trail into the tall grasses. Less fearful, though, are two deer the cyclist comes upon soon after, both of which - apparently accustomed to human traffic through the corridor - meander off the trail and trot slowly into the surrounding bush.

At Pine Point Park, on the north side of Canada's busiest highway, the cyclist wheels past a father and his two young sons on their own bikes as well as spectators of a soccer game in progress and then glides under the 401.

There, the bucolic journey ends. The off-road trail stops at Crawford-Jones Memorial Park and the cyclist pushes up into the inhospitable environs of Weston Road. Here, the road is six lanes across, continually busy with drivers headed to the Real Canadian Superstore or to and from the highway. With no parking on the road allowed and a small gutter lane, cyclists in this area can be seen using the sidewalk.

View Gap in Humber Trail in a larger map

For those cyclists determined to continue their journey south, the Humber trail resumes about a kilometre south at Cruickshank Park in Weston and continues essentially uninterrupted to Lake Ontario, save for a small stretch through local, residential streets near the Humber Marshes. This short but obvious gap in the Humber River trail has been identified as a problem for years by cyclists.

"It makes it difficult to navigate the length of (the river)," explained Nancy Smith Lea, director of the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation (TCAT). "It makes that experience both inconvenient for cyclists, but also increases the possibility of there being a conflict with motor vehicles."

TCAT has asked the city to close the gap in both its 2006 and 2010 platforms. Toronto council's cycling committee in April 2005 also asked the general manager of parks, forestry and recreation to report back on opportunities to connect the trail through Weston.

The result of that request is unknown at this time as the staff member responsible for authoring the report is on vacation until Aug. 3, said the city. Councillor Paula Fletcher, chair of the parks and environment committee, is also on vacation and the committee's vice-chair, Karen Stintz did not return a call for comment as of press time.

However, other officials said the city is pedalling toward a solution.

York South-Weston Councillor Frances Nunziata said the gap exists because the proposed trail connection would have to go through private property owned by several apartment buildings that line Weston Road. The Weston Golf Course owns the property on the Etobicoke side of the river.

Therefore, the city is in the midst of identifying the owners of the land, which is not developable as it's in the floodplain, to negotiate an easement or acquisition of the property, said Nunziata.

She didn't know why it has taken so many years to get to that stage.

"I think there is some really strong spirit (now) to get it done," offered Kevin Bowser, manager of parks for the Etobicoke York District. However, he said it wouldn't be a cheap or easy project. Along with securing the land, money would also have to be spent to design the trail connection and possibly build a retaining wall due to the slopes of hills in the area.

"I don't think you'll be cycling on it next year but you'll see progress," Bowser said.

That was the same sentiment expressed by Daniel Egan, the city's manager of pedestrian and cycling infrastructure. While the trail connection has been in the hands of the parks department up until now, Egan said it will come under his purview next year.

He said his division considers the trail connection a high priority and he expects there will be a plan in place by next year to acquire the property necessary to build the trail.

A vision to connect Toronto's waterfront, major rivers, some railways and hydro corridors through an off-road multi-use trail is getting closer to completion.

At its last meeting in early July, Toronto city council approved the installation of 13 mid-block traffic signals that will accommodate cyclists and other users of the approximately 30 kilometres of new trails the city will build this fall along the Finch and Gatineau hydro corridors and beside CN Railway's Leaside spur in the Don River Valley. All but a few kilometres will be off-road.

City staff and Mayor David Miller have pumped the project as the largest expansion of Toronto's trail system in one year. Since the city's Bike Plan and its 10-year implementation strategy was released in 2001, the city has built fewer than six kilometres of trails a year. The new trails will take the city's total to 198 kilometres; the plan's 2011 goal was 249 kilometres.

Upon completion of the $23-million trails project, 57 per cent of which is being funded by the provincial and federal government's recreational stimulus funding program, Toronto will be far closer to the completion of an off-road ring trail that would allow an intrepid and healthy cyclist or in-line skater to circle much of the megacity. Such a route, for instance, could go from the Martin Goodman Trail along the lakeshore, up the Humber River, across North York and Scarborough via the Finch hydro corridor, and then back southwest through the Gatineau hydro corridor and finally along the Don River to Lake Ontario. Of course, the less ambitious user would likely be satisfied with a day's ride along a portion of the system.

The Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation, which has pushed the city to build more off-road trails in its platforms, supported the construction.

"I think it's one of those things that's maybe not on people's radar on how important that is and how amazing that would be if we had those linkages in place," said TCAT's director, Nancy Smith Lea. "Already, the trail system is so well used and it's disconnected."

However, some gaps will still exist in the off-road chain, admitted Daniel Egan, the city's manager of pedestrian and cycling infrastructure.

There is a short but obvious break in the otherwise relatively uninterrupted Humber River trail, which runs the full height of the city, in Weston between Crawford-Jones Memorial and Cruickshank Park.

"We know that's a high priority," said Egan, explaining the proposed trail connection is on private property. "I don't know if we'll be able to build it next year, but we certainly need to resolve how it's going to be done."

Similarly, a new trail along the CN Leaside spur between Eglinton Avenue and York Mills Road will essentially complete a trail system along the Don River from Steeles Avenue to the lake, save for a sliver of land connecting the trail north of York Mills to Betty Sutherland Park.

Both the Finch and Gatineau hydro corridor trails will also have to be completed. The tight timelines of the federal and provincial government stimulus funding programs, which require projects to be complete by the end of March, meant the city had to focus on easily completed projects, said Egan.

In central Toronto, the Martin Goodman Trail, "by far" the most heavily trafficked trail, will be connected from Spadina Avenue to Parliament Street, said Egan. The project, which would see the trail built alongside a pedestrian promenade south of the existing LRT right-of-way, will start next year but take about three years to complete, said Egan.

"One thing we've started to look at is some kind of bypass route," he said.

But a bypass, connecting Bathurst to the portlands via bridges or tunnels crossing both the eastern and western gaps to the Toronto Islands, isn't being considered, he said.

It's also not feasible, according to Geoffrey Wilson, president and CEO of the Toronto Port Authority, which operates the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport on the island.

The TPA is currently conducting an environmental assessment to build a tunnel under the western gap from Bathurst to the airport, but it will be paid for and used only by airport passengers, said Wilson.

The airport extends across the width of the northwest island, and there is no road around the periphery of the property to provide public access to Hanlan's Point, he added.

"In this day and age, an airport is a very high security endeavour," said Wilson. "Just by nature of (being) an airport operation, we can't have people bicycling across the tarmac."

The eastern gap is still used as a shipping channel, he added.

"So there's no possibility for a bridge across the eastern gap at this stage and we certainly wouldn't be having the means to finance a tunnel underneath," said Wilson. "So I don't think that's very heartening news for those of us who like to cycle."

NEW TRAFFIC SIGNALS

Pharmacy Avenue, approximately 115 metres north of Rannock Street

Warden Avenue, approximately 260 metres north of Bertrand Avenue

Bellamy Road, approximately 100 metres south of Jarwick Drive

Markham Road, approximately 290 metres south of Brimorton Drive

Brimorton Drive, south of Gander Drive

Norfinch Drive, approximately 525 metres north of Finch Avenue West

York Gate Boulevard, approximately 345 metres north of Finch Avenue West

Bathurst Street, approximately 65 metres south of Kenton Drive

Grantbrook Street, approximately 60 metres north of Blake Avenue

Talbot Road, approximately 23 metres north of Blake Avenue

Midland Avenue, approximately 215 metres south of McNicoll Avenue