Bike lane utility cuts could be much worse
Some utility cuts are worse than others, but not the ones in the Annette St. bike lanes.
Anyone who reads this column knows that one of our biggest pet peeves is the countless holes dug in roads and sidewalks to access wires and pipes below ground.
The slicing up of city streets to service and maintain the buried infrastructure is relentless. The city issues permits for upwards of100,000 cuts annually, and has for many years.
Do the math, and it’s easy to see why our roads are rougher than 20 years ago, before the burying of internet, cable TV and phone lines became widespread.
It wouldn’t be so bad if private utility contractors that dig the holes were held to the city’s standards when filling them. But a lack of enforcement allows them to cut corners.
So we weren’t surprised to see a complaint from cyclist Susan Brown on the See-Click-Fix website about a series of utility cuts in the cycling lanes on Annette St., west of Keele St.
“There are multiple cuts through the Annette bike lanes on both sides, all the way along,” she said. “This is very dangerous and makes for a very rough ride.”
We found a patchwork of dozens of cuts on both sides of Annette St., between Keele St. and Pacific Ave. The ones on the north side were recently filled, but the cuts on the south side look to be no more than six months old.
The patches in the eastbound bike lane are as good as it gets around here, smooth and even. The newer ones in the westbound lane are temporary, but they’re better than most that we’ve seen.
Just to make sure, we flagged down a couple of cyclists to ask if they thought the cuts are a problem.
The first guy said he wasn’t really aware of them until we asked, even though he lives in the area and cycles regularly. The other guy said he noticed them, but they’re no big deal. Status: The cuts in the Annette St. bike lanes may be an inconvenience, but they aren’t likely to be repairedany better than they are now. But we’ve asked transportation services to take a look, in case there’s room for improvement. What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. To contact us, go to thestar.com/yourtoronto/the_fixer.