The province of Ontario is planning to remove sections of bike lanes on three major roads in Toronto, as it weighs potentially ripping up additional bike lanes elsewhere.
Last week, Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government tabled a bill that would require municipalities to seek permission from the province to install bike lanes when they would remove a lane of vehicular traffic.
Now, Ontario is going further through regulation, posting a proposed new rule that would see the province to remove sections of Yonge Street, Bloor Street, and University Avenue bike lanes and restore them as lanes for vehicular traffic.
In the past, Ford has complained about some bike lanes creating gridlock, in particular a stretch of Bloor Street West that is about a 10-minute drive from his own home in Toronto’s west end.
The regulation is posted for public comment until November 20.
The posting specifies that the province would also establish a review process for existing bike lanes that were created through removing a lane of vehicular traffic to decide if they should be maintained or removed.
According to the posting, the city of Toronto would be required to “provide support to facilitate” the removal of the three named bike lanes, and that an exemption from the Environmental Assessment Act would be included.
