It’s a great start. It’s good to see there is a consensus that we need more space to actively walk, cycle and the rest of it ... I think it’s good for all our mental health to get out a bit.
ActiveTO initiative clears 57 km of roads for people to get out, stay distanced
Norm Di Pasquale, a trustee with the Toronto Catholic District School Board, on weekend road closures rolled out as part of the city’s ActiveTO initiative.
On a summery long weekend Saturday, Norm Di Pasquale hopped on his bike and cycled in the vehicle lanes of Lake Shore Blvd.
“It’s a wide, wide road so there was room for all of us,” said Di Pasquale, a trustee with the Toronto Catholic District School Board, who filmed part of his bike ride — complete with a chorus of seagulls.
“It was fantastic,” he said. “Just beautiful waterfront vistas today, a lovely thing to do on the long weekend.”
The partial, long-weekend closure of the six-kilometre stretch of eastbound Lake Shore Boulevard West, between Windermere Avenue and Stadium Road., is part of the ActiveTO program announced by the city this week to allow people to exercise while physically distancing during the pandemic.
The initiative creates 57 kilometres of “quiet streets” by closing some to non-local traffic in areas including Kensington Market, and entirely closing others to traffic including Bayview Avenue between Mill Street to Rosedale Valley Road, as well as River Street from Gerrard Street East to Bayview Avenue.
Although the weekend closures appeared well received, the rollout of the program didn’t go smoothly everywhere. Traffic-calming measures installed on Shaughnessy Boulevard in North York were almost immediately removed.
On both Lake Shore and Bayview, the combination of space to physically distance and no car traffic created an enjoyable, safe atmosphere, said Kevin Rupasinghe, campaigns manager for non-profit cycling advocacy group Cycle Toronto.
“You could see many young families, people who are learning how to ride a bike, people who hadn’t been cycling for a long time,” Rupasinghe said.
“It was a big contrast to a few weeks ago when we had really nice weather and there were so many people who wanted to try and get some exercise to maintain their physical and mental health and they were all stuck on a trail that had way too many people on it.”
Rupasinghe said he hopes to see the temporary initiative expanded to include more streets and go beyond weekends.
But, he added, a more permanent cycling infrastructure is needed to create alternatives to public transit and vehicle gridlock as the province moves to loosen restrictions and people begin to travel more, including back to work.
“That is going to be key in Toronto’s economic and social recovery,” he said.
Di Pasquale went on to make his usual morning shopping trip to St. Lawrence Market, which he said has felt safer than a grocery store.
“It’s a great start,” he said. “It’s good to see there is a general consensus that we need more space to actively walk, cycle and the rest of it … I think it’s good for all our mental health to get out a bit.”
In North York, Shaughnessy Boulevard was meant to be one of the showcase streets of the ActiveTO program and had traffic-calming measures installed on last Thursday. But, the following day, the barriers were removed after local councillor Shelley Carroll (Ward 17, Don Valley North) said she was “inundated” by emails and phone calls from “irate” residents, and she brought their concerns to the city.
City crews had installed concrete barriers to block left-turn lanes and put up pylons in the middle of Shaughnessy Boulevard to slow vehicle traffic. Carroll said some locals were so upset that they moved the pylons off to the shoulder of the road.
Carroll acknowledged she also received calls from residents supporting the installation, but she felt those who objected were on “solid ground,” since the city hadn’t consulted them before erecting the installation.
But local resident Robin Sacks said she and many of her neighbours supported the ActiveTO installation and are “fuming” that it was removed. Even before the pandemic, Sacks said, Shaughnessy Boulevard was unsafe because many drivers use it as a “thoroughfare” rather than taking Don Mills Road.
“If they can keep the cars out then people are safer, not just in a regular season, but specifically in a pandemic when the whole neighbourhood is walking around,” said Sacks, who worries about her four children, aged nine to 11, when they’re out cycling in the area.
Sacks said residents have been trying for “years and years” to calm traffic. “This would have done it!”
City spokesperson Jasmine Patrick said the city “is committed to the ActiveTO Quiet Streets program” but removed the Shaughnessy installation after “staff and the local councillor quickly realized that changes would be required in order to ensure the success of the program.”
Patrick said the city “will continue to work with the local councillor’s office to make whatever changes are necessary.”