CityNews has learned the province of Ontario will begin removing bike lanes along a stretch of Bloor Street West in Etobicoke on Tuesday, with Olivia Chow calling the move “outrageous.”
Chow said she learned about the impending construction on Thursday and addressed it following another head-to-head debate with fellow mayoral candidate, Brad Bradford.
“I just learned that Premier Doug Ford is taking out our bike lanes, it is outrageous, he’s overstepping,” Chow said.
Chow was quick to put some of the onus on Bradford, who has previously backed the removal of the bike lane along that specific stretch of Bloor West in Etobicoke.
“We had Coun. Bradford inviting (Ford) in to say ‘come and take it away,’ ” Chow stressed. “That is trampling on local democracy, the right of Torontonians through their municipal government to have a say over the municipal affairs of the city.”
“I had been working on a win-win solution with drawings that show that you can have the bike lanes and also the car lanes restored, while I was working on it you have Coun. Bradford coming in and saying ‘Oh, take it away it’s not the right location.’ “
Back in August, Bradford acknowledged that he “got this one wrong” when he was one of 21 city councillors who previously voted in favour of adding the bike lane that the province is now poised to remove.
“These bike lanes in particular are not working,” he said at the time, stressing that local business owners have suffered because of their presence and are now suing the city in a bid to recoup their losses.
“Sales are down, traffic and congestion is up.”
He backed that stance again on Thursday, but said he didn’t support Toronto’s other bike lanes being removed.
“I ride more bikes than anyone who has ever been elected to Toronto city council … but I also am going to be pragmatic and recognize when some of the bike lanes aren’t working like they should. And that’s why we are talking about the section (in) Etobicoke, part of Bloor from Resurrection Road to South Kingsway, where you have 38,490 cars per day, and 197 bikes,” Bradford said.
“But there’s a lot of bike lanes that have a lot more usage – Richmond, Adelaide, University even, Danforth out in the east end. Big cities are going to have bike infrastructure and that’s a positive thing – we are going to have it – but we also have to build trust with Torontonians to recognize that if it’s not working we are going to fix it.”
In September, the province sent out a release saying it would begin restoring motor‑vehicle lanes on several of Toronto’s busiest corridors — including Bloor Street, Yonge Street, University Avenue, Queen’s Park, Queen’s Park Crescent and Avenue Road — after issuing a new request for proposals (RFP).
The release said work on a stretch of Bloor West would start immediately, although no work has begun at this point.
The province now says the full removal will commence next week, on Tuesday.
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