IMAGINING SAFETY
Pop-up bike lanes will show Danforth cyclists how good life could be,
Upper Beach resident Amanda O’Rourke rides her bike daily in Toronto, usually with her 3year-old son in tow.
And while she hasn’t been involved in any collisions, there have been some scary moments where her safety was put at risk.
“I am very hypersensitive and aware during my ride because I have had a few close incidents, but thankfully I have never been hurt,” said O’Rourke, who heads 8 80 Cities, a Torontobased non-profit that brings citizens together to enhance mobility in public spaces so they work for everyone from the age of 8 to 80.
And while O’Rourke rides her bike on Danforth Ave., she won’t let her two older children (ages 6 and 9) cycle on the busy roadway — at least not until dedicated bike lanes are in place as well as other road safety measures.
“Our streets can and should be places where it’s safe to ride a bike. (Cycling) doesn’t have to be something that is really stressful. It can be something that is enjoyable if we provide proper infrastructure.”
This weekend, those visiting the Danforth-Woodbine area will have a chance to experience first hand what a busy arterial road feels like when safety is put first.
From Friday at 4 p.m. until Saturday at 3 p.m., about 200 metres of Danforth, from Woodbine to Woodmount Aves., will be reimagined with dedicated bike lanes, two fewer lanes of traffic, wider sidewalks and two new “parklets” with activities for the whole family.
O’Rourke’s organization is spearheading 8 80 Streets Danforth, working with the Better Block Foundation, a U.S.-based non-profit that came to Canada for the first time this week to build the temporary streetscaping.
The safe-streets pop-up, which is the first of its kind in Toronto, is made possible through a $200,000 donation from a Toronto resident who lost a friend to road violence in 2018.
That year, there were 66 traffic-related deaths in Toronto.
Danforth and Woodbine is an especially relevant location for the pop-up as more than 40,000 vehicles pass through this intersection daily and, since 2015, there have been three serious injuries in and around this stretch of Danforth.
Further, Danforth has the highest volume of cyclists without a protected bike lane anywhere in the city.
The city of Toronto also recently wrapped up the Danforth Avenue Planning Study (from Coxwell to Victoria Park Aves.) and is currently doing a major corridor study on Danforth from Broadview to Victoria Park Aves.
Among other things, it will look at ways to make this road safer for cyclists and pedestrians.
“Danforth Avenue is a street that really does prioritize the movement of vehicles at the expense of human enjoyment,” O’Rourke said.
“The idea (of the pop-up) is to build a prototype of a street that exemplifies the city’s vision to get pedestrian fatalities down to zero. We’re replacing car infrastructure with people infrastructure.”
During the demonstration, O’Rourke and 8 80 Cities will collect data on the number of cyclists and pedestrians who use the modified street.
This information, as well as data from two other upcoming events in North York and High Park, will be made available to anyone wanting to learn more about how to reclaim and reactivate Toronto’s streets and public spaces and make them safer.
The Danforth East Community Association (DECA) along with the Danforth Mosaic Business Improvement Area (BIA) are the main community partners in the event.
Both organizations are helping to plan and run the pop-up, which will result in traffic lanes being temporarily reduced on Danforth, just west of Woodbine, starting Thursday.
“This is a real opportunity to test out what might be,” said Audrey Kvedaras, DECA’s vicechair, who has lived near Woodbine and Danforth for almost 30 years.
“I think we’d like to see the street feel more accommodating and walkable. At the moment, street traffic is very fast.”
In recent years, DECA has run a pop-up shop program to activate empty storefronts in the Danforth East area.
Kvedaras, a longtime member of the organization’s visioning committee, said this weekend’s safe-street demonstration is another way to spark important conversations that will better the community.
Colin Johnson, the Danforth Mosaic BIA’s manager, said making roads safer is both good for business and for the community as a whole.
“A tragedy can devastate a street. It’s in everyone’s interest to ensure streets are safer,” he said.
Beaches—East York Councillor Brad Bradford, who campaigned on making Toronto’s streets safer, said 8 80 Streets Danforth aligns well with the recently approved Vision Zero Road Safety Plan 2.0, which is working to prioritize safety on arterial roads as they’re where most of the serious and deadly collisions happen, as well as Toronto’s Complete Streets Guidelines, an approach that reinforces the notion that streets should safely accommodate all users.