3 days Ago By [email protected] (Robert Benzie)
The City of Toronto’s estimate that it could cost $48 million to remove $27 million of bike lanes “doesn’t add up,” charges Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria. “I just don’t think that can be accurate. It can’t cost double the amount to remove them as it does to put them in place,” Sarkaria told reporters Monday.
But the minister, who has promised Queen’s Park would foot the tab for taking out bike lanes on Bloor, Yonge and University in order to alleviate traffic gridlock, acknowledged the province has not completed any costing for the removal. Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government has publicly posted a blueprint for removing “We’ve seen similar projects across the city here — and other places across Canada — be removed for way less than that. Jarvis and Brimley are two examples that come to mind,” he said, referring to city bike lanes previously removed at a cost of $300,000 and $80,000 respectively.
Sarkaria’s comments came as legislative hearings began into his controversial bill with opposition parties and others criticizing for wasting taxpayers’ money to scrap existing infrastructure. Jacquelyn Hayward, director of transportation planning, design and management at the City of Toronto, warned Ford’s scheme would mean “years” of disruption and reduce safety for cyclists. “While the intent of removing these lanes may be to improve traffic, the construction process to dismantle these lanes would mean considerable delays and disruption for drivers,” she said.
The Ford government is moving to dismantle bike lanes on some of Toronto’s major streets. Hayward estimated it would cost $20 million to reconstruct the 3.5 km of University Avenue and Queen’s Park Crescent as well as part of .
The remaining $28 million would be spent on removing lane markings, signs and curbs and repaving the other 18.5 km of lanes on Bloor and Yonge. “Removing the bike lanes on Bloor, Yonge and University would not be a short-term inconvenience — we’d likely be facing multiple years of successive construction that would disrupt other commuters, harm businesses and incur costs for years,” she told the legislative committee.
NDP Leader Marit Stiles said it’s “outrageous” that public money was being spent to reduce the number of bike lanes in the provincial capital. “This is ..
. the people of Ontario being forced to pay the price for this premier’s personal grievances, his vanity projects,” said Stiles, suggesting Ford is fighting “battles that he already lost at Toronto city council when he was a councillor” from 2010 to 2014. Liberal MPP Andrea Hazell (Scarborough-Guildwood) pointed out that six cyclists have been this year.
“What is it they’re not seeing? What is it they’re not hearing? This is unbelievable when you have fatalities and we are putting (a price) on people’s lives,” said Hazell. Green Leader Mike Schreiner said Sarkaria’s legislation is “completely fiscally irresponsible.” “Why should people in Bracebridge, Owen Sound and Sudbury be paying for the cost of ripping out bike lanes in Toronto?” said Schreiner.
At the legislative committee, speaker after speaker implored the Tories to reconsider. Association of Ontario Municipalities’ executive director Brian Rosborough said it would be “misguided and ineffective” to get rid of existing bike lanes. Brian Burchell, general manager of the Bloor Annex Business Improvement Area, noted the lanes have been positive for the 207 small businesses along the stretch of Bloor he represents.
“It’s been almost 10 years. It’s helped transform our area into a vibrant, green, welcoming business district,” said Burchell. Scott Butler, executive director of Good Roads, a 130-year-old municipal association concerned with the quality and design of roads in Ontario, said the government has yet to explain how its proposal would make commuting safer.
“Rather than thinking of these as cycling facilities or erroneously thinking of them as causes of congestion, we’re better served by acknowledging” that the lanes contribute to road safety, said Butler, urging a “common sense, evidence-based approach to bike policy.”.
