City proposes bike lanes on major Toronto road with history of crashes

On the same day the Ontario government announced restrictions on future municipal bike lanes, Toronto city staff released a report calling for bike lanes on a busy west-end road with a history of crashes.

Staff are proposing installing a 3.8-kilometre, two-way cycle track on the west side of Parkside Drive between Bloor Street W. and Lake Shore Boulevard W.

The proposal, released Tuesday, is part of a suite of proposed design changes meant to improve safety for pedestrians, cyclists and other "vulnerable road users" like motorcyclists on the dangerous stretch of road.

"We've been waiting forever for this day to come," said Faraz Gholizadeh, a local resident and co-chair of community advocacy group Safe Parkside.

"We want to feel safe walking on our own street. We want to feel safe when our kids are walking beside us, and the street, as it's been designed, is not safe for pedestrians, not safe for cyclists, not safe for motorists."

The changes would reduce the number of vehicle lanes to two from three on much of the road. City staff estimate it would take an extra one to three minutes during peak hours to traverse the stretch, with southbound traffic during the morning commute being impacted most.

If the city moves forward with the recommendations, it could set up a clash between council and Premier Doug Ford's government over planned provincial legislation that would require municipalities to get ministerial approval before building any new bike lanes that reduce lanes of vehicle traffic.

"We support a common sense approach when it comes to bike lanes- which does not include removing a lane of traffic in the most congested city in North America," a spokesperson for Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said in an email statement.

"We will be reviewing the city's plan, as well as all other information from municipalities regarding bike lanes that have been installed in the past 5 years."

The local councillor is signalling he's ready for the fight.

"We have been working as a community for years to make this street safer, and I would be appalled if the premier of Ontario ... decided that saving a couple of minutes in traffic time was more important than saving lives," said Coun. Gord Perks, who represents Ward 4, Parkdale-High Park. "This will be a life-saving intervention."

Parkside Drive is a major north-south arterial road, bordered by High Park in the west and homes to the east. Around 21,000 vehicles and 1,000 transit passengers travel on it per day, according to the staff report, many of them heading into the city or to the Queen Elizabeth Way via the Gardiner Expressway.

The report says there were 1,487 collisions on this stretch of road between August 2014 and August 2024. Seven of those collisions resulted in five serious injuries and three deaths. Forty-seven involved vulnerable road users.

Local residents have long complained to council about narrow and missing sidewalks, a lack of bike lanes, speeding vehicles, aggressive driving and a history of collisions, according to the report.