Bill 60 Strikes Again! The Gerrard East Complete Street project–set to provide a bi-directional cycle track between Sherbourne Street and Parliament Street–will be delayed until at least 2027. This comes after over three years of consultation and work to push this project forward by the City, overcoming issues with utility coordination and new provincial requirements related to geotechnical investigation. Gerrard East’s crime in this case isn’t even the cycle track itself, but the removal of a pair of turning lanes for traffic safety considerations.
Bill 60 prohibits municipalities from removing a lane of traffic to accommodate a bicycle lane, or any other “prescribed purpose.” The former is frustrating, but it’s the latter “prescribed purpose” that I’m worried will scuttle projects including the pedestrianization of Market Street and yongeTomorrow (the latter of which has been delayed due to the provincial Ontario Line construction). The City can spend years planning to accommodate all modes of traffic on our streets–pedestrians, cyclists, delivery vehicles and personal automobiles–and with a stroke of its pen the province scuttles that work with a new regulation with no consultation out of nowhere.
Transportation projects are already challenging downtown because of traffic congestion and over a hundred years of incremental infrastructure buried underneath the road. I continue to advocate for projects like the Gerrard East Compete Street, yongeTomorrow and the pedestrianization of Market Street, and vigorously oppose the province telling the City how it should design its own streets.
On one final note, I want to thank the public for their patience after a record-breaking 56cm of snow fell on January 25. Toronto Centre residents have shown a lot of grace towards snow removal crews, despite far too many sidewalks and bike lanes and parking areas needing additional attention. Please reach out to my office if there remain any significant accessibility issues.
Yours in service,
Chris Moise
City Councillor
Ward 13 - Toronto Centre
