Some Parkdale residents say a new bike lane has created 'chaos' - Action News
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Toronto

Some Parkdale residents say a new bike lane has created 'chaos'

Frustrated Parkdale residents say the rollout of a new bike lane is causing chaos in their neighbourhood. The West Parkdale Cycling Connection is supposed to link the west-end network to the rest of the city, but some say road changes have created unsafe conditions for everyone.

City says it held community consultations; will monitor lane once complete

Why Parkdale residents say a new bike lane is creating 'chaos'

3 days ago
Duration 2:39
Frustrated Parkdale residents say the rollout of a new bike lane is causing 'chaos' in their neighbourhood. The West Parkdale cycling route is supposed to link the west-end network to the rest of the city. But as CBC's Britnei Bilhete shows, some residents say road changes have created unsafe conditions for everyone.

A group of Parkdale residents say one of the city'slatest bike path projects is causing chaos in their neighbourhood, and what should be making cyclists safer has, in practice, made roads more dangerous.

Implementation of the West Parkdale Cycling Connection began earlier this month. The new bike path starts at The Queensway, travels through a series of small residential streets, and ends at Brock Avenue.

Some residents say street changes, including new one-ways, have caused congestion, chaos, anger and confusion, adding that they've seen drivers going the wrong way on roads and speeding.

Jordan Marshall,a cyclist, is one of them.

"People are getting out of their cars, like punching windshields," he told CBC Toronto. "I've seen crazy stuff happening just a lot of frustration."

Marshalllives near the corner of Pearson Avenueand Sunnyside Avenue, one of the sitesof several traffic direction changes related to the project, where a two-way street became a one-way. He says he'sseen a spike in road rage incidents since the implementation began.

A poster noting road changes for a bike lane is defaced. It reads:
A sign noting road changes for the West Parkdale Cycling Connection was defaced with an angry message. (Britnei Bilhete/CBC)

As Toronto grapples with widespread traffic gridlock, the city has made creating more and better bike lanes one of its goals, in an effort to encourage commuter cycling and increase safety. Butwhere and how bike lanes are implemented is an ongoing debate happening across neighbourhoods.

City says it consulted residents, studied area

Cycling advocates and the city say the new route was created to strengthen the cycling network and make biking safer.

"This infrastructure is designed to help support people in this ward get from A to B and help unlock more local trips," said Michael Longfield, executive director of the non-profit advocacy group Cycle Toronto.

"It's also important to keep in mind that a lot of this is about safety. 2024 is proving to be Toronto's deadliest year for people on bikes. We've had five people killed already."

But many local cyclists who spoke to CBC Toronto said though the route could help others pass through the neighbourhood it hasn't benefited them. Since the road changes, driver behaviour has become erratic, from speeding to ignoring new rules, many say.

The problem now, they say, is that there aremore bottlenecks and bad driving, adding thatthe paint on the road doesn't do much to make them safer.

"All I do see is just the chaos of the cars," Marshall said.

"I never felt unsafe as a cyclist biking beside the cars."

Several residents said their main concern about the project was that city ignored feedback about howchanging the flow of traffic would impactneighbouring streets and how losing parking spots for the project would inconvenience families and seniors.

"A lot of people had great suggestions and none of them were implemented," said resident Jamie Khan."They just went forward with the full plan they had proposed, so I think that was the problem."

In a statement, city spokesperson Lilian Kim said the city approved the project "after careful consideration of public feedback, technical analysis and City policies and guidelines."

A map of the West Parkdale bike lane and one-way-street changes made along the route.
This map shows some of the traffic changes made to accommodate the new bike lane. (Steve Silcox/CBC News)

She added that public consultation took place over several months from October 2023 to March 2024.

"Consultation activities included 13 meetings with 15 interest groups, an in-person public drop-in event, a feedback survey and comment tracking," the statement read."Over 200 people attended the public event and nearly 1,400 survey responses were received, as well as comments by mail, phone and email from nearly 100 people, and two petitions."

The city said it consulted neighbourhood stakeholdersand changes may happen after the project is complete. It also said city staffwill monitor the area and potentially add new safety features, such as speed humps and more turn restrictions.

In its public consultation report, the city noted that results from a survey with over 1,000 respondents showed neighbours were divided.

Forty per cent of participants did not agree with the West Parkdale project while 57 per cent approved.

But some residents, including Marshall, say they heard nothing at all about the project until it was already in place.

Concerns over dangerous driving

Some residentssuspect that because non-local traffic has to make longer detours to travel through the area and onto major roads, driversare speeding more to make up for lost time.

And several parents worry that could pose a risk to kids travelling to school in September, including Vronique Claassen, whose12-year-old son attends the nearby Fern Avenue Public School.

A black car passes by a public school.
Some residents worry rerouted traffic will try to speed by Fern Avenue Public School. (Britnei Bilhete/CBC)

Claassensaid she has witnessed drivers speeding against traffic in her neighbourhoodand barrelling down roads that lead into a school zone.Cars travelling south toward Queen Street on Macdonell Ave. now have to turn at Fern Avenue, which leads intoa school zone, she notes.

"I'm really concerned that the amount of traffic that we're going to be funnelling through that intersection is going to be too much for our one crossing guard to handle," Claassen said.

Her neighbour Carol Devine also raised concernsarounddangerous driving, either by drivers who don't like the new road changes or are unaware of them.

"We saw it before and now we're seeing it exacerbated."

The city saysthe project is expected to be fully implemented by early September.