About

The Avenue Road Safety Coalition (ARSC) represents the concerns of the residents, seniors, people with disabilities, parents and children, pedestrians and cyclists, and those who visit and walk along Avenue Road between Bloor Street and St. Clair Avenue.

Our coalition believes that the current road configuration with its unsafe and dangerously narrow sidewalks, and the excessive motor traffic speed will continue to contribute to collisions, injuries and deaths.  Our objective is to create the right balance of safe space for pedestrians, active mobility users, public transit and vehicles.  Our goal is to advocate for lower speeds by design and wider safer sidewalks.

ARSC SUPPORTERS

The Avenue Road Safety Coalition’s recommendations regarding the sidewalk widening and the reduction in the speed limit to 40 km/h on Avenue Road between St. Clair Avenue West and Bloor Street West is supported by the following 20 Toronto-wide organizations:

8 80 Cities
ABC Residents Association
Amica Senior Lifestyles
Annex Residents’ Association
Bells on Bloor
Brentwood Towers Tenants Association
Brown Junior Public School and Parent Council
Church of the Redeemer
Clark Faber Fiksel LLP
Cottingham Junior Public School and Parent Council
Cycle Toronto Midtown
De La Salle College “Oaklands”
Deer Park Residents Group
Friends and Families for Safe Streets
ISKCON Toronto – Hare Krishna Temple
Pears on the Avenue Condo Resident
Rathnelly Area Residents’ Association
St. Clare Multi Faith Housing Society
Toronto Community Bikeways Coalition
Walk Toronto

The 2.1-kilometre stretch of Avenue Road between St. Clair Avenue and Bloor Street West is a six-lane, high-speed road that is unsafe and hostile to pedestrians and cyclists. Research done by the City of Toronto shows that 85% of vehicles on the road routinely travel at speeds above the 50 KPH posted limits. The sidewalks are substandard and dangerously narrow, especially when considering the speeding cars and trucks.

The Existing Avenue Road sidewalks – Cottingham to Davenport:

Avenue Road – Davenport to Dupont
Avenue Road – Dupont to Cottingham
1. Southwest corner, at Dupont, beside Church of the Messiah
2. A bit further south, the utility pole is beside an entrance, but there is a sign pole (behind the utility pole) that is an obstruction.
3. Approximately mid-block between Dupont and Chicora
4. Continuing southward, just south of Chicora.
5. Just north of Pears. The postal box could be pushed back but the utility pole leaves a width of only 113 cm.
6. Just a short distance north of Davenport.
7. Northeast corner of Pears, on the east side of Avenue Rd, heading north.
8. A bit further north, the parking station leaves a passage of only 106 cm, with 112cm at the utility pole.
9. Still on the same block, when there is more snow. In the winter, it is often like this.
10. Final photograph on this block.
11. Northeast corner of Roxborough. This sidewalk gets further narrowed by bins on garbage day.
12. Just south of the CPR tracks, withUtility poles in the middle of the sidewalk.
13. Cottingham Manor apartment building, showing the narrowest measured pinch point. Sidewalks continue to be narrow all the way to St. Clair, but this is as far as we measured.

Are these sidewalks safe for a high density residential neighbourhood that includes…

  • five schools located on or within walking distance of Avenue Road: De La Salle College, Browns Junior Public School, Cottingham Junior Public School, The Mabin School, and Avenue Road Arts School
  • four seniors’ residences:
    Bradgate Arms, The Amica at Balmoral, Hazelton Place and Belmont House
  • three places of worship: Church of the Redeemer, Hari Krishna Temple and Church of the Messiah
  • four parks that border Avenue Road: Ramsden Park, Jay Macpherson Green, Sergeant Ryan Russell Parkette and Robertson Davies Park
  • at least seven new condominiums towers that have been approved and are currently being built and that will house thousands of new residents who will walk or cycle along Avenue Road