Dump trucks stationed in cycling lanes

Some of the vehicles parked beneath ‘no stopping’ signs, violating local parking rules

It’s hard not to resent construction when big trucks that service it track mud onto the street and push cyclists aside by parking in bike lanes.

Nothing is more important around here than condo construction; developers would have us believe they are doing the Lord’s work by erecting buildings to house everyone in need of a roof over their head.

That would be everyone who can borrow half a million dollars for a shoebox-sized unit in a building wedged into a parcel of land just big enough for a gas station, or whatever used to be there.

As more and more buildings go up, our tolerance for their encroachment into traffic lanes and public space goes down.

John Jenkinson copied us on a note to Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker — a cheerleader for the billiondollar boondoggle Scarborough subway — about dump trucks parked in the cycling lanes on Brimorton Dr.

Jenkinson sent the good councillor photos of the trucks blocking the bike lanes before 8 a.m., which showed a line of them stationed in both cycling lanes just east of Markham Rd., outside a residential construction site. The photos show some of the trucks parked beneath “no stopping” signs, a violation of local parking rules, not to mention the dislocation of bike riders.

Last Thursday, “there were eight trucks parked in the westbound bike lane and five parked in the eastbound bike lane,” he said, adding, “this is a very dangerous situation for cars, but especially for cyclists.”

We went there Monday and didn’t find any dump trucks in the bike lanes at that time.

But we certainly found evidence of their presence, in the form of a coating of mud in the westbound lane of Brimorton.

The mud tracked onto the street by dump trucks had turned to a soupy goo from a downpour, which splashed onto every vehicle that passed through it.

It is a clear violation of a bylaw that prohibits fouling the road allowance. Brimorton is a residential street, and the residents deserve a little respect. Status: We’ve asked the city’s rightof-way management unit, which enforces road-related bylaws, to check out the mud and also the parking violations, and get tough with the builder. What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. Send an email to jlakey@thestar.ca. Report problems and follow us on Twitter @TOStarFixer.