For most of the Bloor Complete Street project length, there is a centre left-turn lane which will allow emergency vehicles to pass. In areas where this lane is not present, great care has been taking with the placement of concrete curbs and bollards to not impede emergency vehicles.
Acknowledging the concern from local businesses that lane and parking reductions will negatively impact local business, a growing number of studies show that bike lanes have a neutral to positive impact on local merchants.
An economic review of the impact of the bikeways from Avenue Rd to Shaw St found that consumer spending grew more in the target area than in the area surrounding it. Similar results have bene experienced in cities like New York City, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, and Montreal.
Wheel-Trans data was analyzed and considered during the design phase to ensure high-demand areas are respected. Three accessible loading zones are included in the final design. Once the project is installed, I am prepared to request accessible lay-by spaces in additional locations experiencing high demand.
The Complete Streets team has prioritized maintaining existing lay-by parking levels wherever possible. However, this is not always possible, and the total parking will be reduced. The stretch of Bloor St from Runnymede Ave to Aberfoyle Crescent currently has approximately 270 lay-by parking spaces, which will be reduced to approximately 172 spaces. These changes primarily affect the western edge of Bloor West Village and The Kingsway. I am currently looking into opportunities to expand off-street Green P lots in this area.
Minimizing the impact to motor vehicle traffic is a fundamental objective of the proposed complete streets design. Through the Bloor West Village area, the intersections are anticipated to generally operate well, though some increases to delay can be expected due to the proposed lane modifications.
These increases will be monitored and mitigated through signal timing adjustments once the project is installed. On the stretch of Bloor from Shaw St to Avenue Rd, similar signal timing adjustments after installation reduced the increase in travel time by half.
The final design includes some features, like turn restrictions, to prevent or reduce cut-through traffic. This will be monitored during and after installation to determine if any changes are necessary.
This is measured by comparing a baseline vehicular traffic count (established before installation) with a post-installation traffic count. This measurement will take place on residential streets identified as having a risk of increased cut-through traffic through a review of the local transportation network and stakeholder & community consultations.
