News

Another tragedy on Avenue Road

We don’t yet know all the facts of this case, but we do know that this 6-lane 2.1 km section of Avenue Road is dangerous for people on foot and on bikes, and even in cars – a matter that the Avenue Road Safety Coalition has continuously raised with local councillors and the city for seven long years. Today’s death is all the more tragic for its predictability. It is past time for solutions.

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Featured in the Toronto Star

There was a time when city hall routinely rejected community demands for changes to arterial roads — even when motivated by safety concerns — by pointing to a road’s designated function to move lots of cars, fast.

Fortunately, the times, and city priorities, have changed. High-speed, six-lane Avenue Road, between Bloor Street West and St. Clair Avenue West, is the latest road on the verge of a makeover with interim measures to convert it to a calmer, safer four lanes, in advance of full reconstruction at a later date. With public consultations now complete, and a committee vote on the final staff recommendations scheduled for March, city hall may now be ready to deliver.

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Road safety advocates are calling on the city to speed up proposed changes to Avenue Road after an e-bike rider was struck and killed by a truck driver Tuesday.

The 39-year-old male e-bike rider, who has not been publicly identified, was the fourth cyclist killed in Toronto this year, putting the city on course for one of its deadliest years for cyclists in recent memory. The crash occurred on a particularly dangerous stretch of Avenue Road, between Davenport Road and Bloor Street, where three cyclists have been killed in the past nine years.

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Multiple developments will increase density in Etobicoke and elsewhere in Toronto. There simply isn’t enough space for everyone to rely on their cars all the time, Dr. Christopher Yarnell writes. …

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Roger Morier and Jonathan Schmidt argue that road safety cannot be treated like a candidate in a popularity contest.

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The death of an 89-year-old pedestrian in 2017 was the last straw for the mayor of Hoboken, N.J. “I felt it wasn’t acceptable.”

Street parking was already scarce in Hoboken, New Jersey, when the death of an elderly pedestrian spurred city leaders to remove even more spaces in a bid to end traffic fatalities.

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Curbed asked a team of volunteer architects and consultants led by WXY to imagine a thoroughly reengineered Third Avenue as a model for the rest of the city. The stretch they came up with seemed like a fantasy then and doesn’t exist now, but a different section of the avenue is getting a makeover, and many of the elements we featured are appearing elsewhere, adding up to creeping yet visible change. It can’t come soon enough: Drivers still slam into pedestrians, bikes, and cars with appalling regularity and horrific consequences. Last year, car crashes killed 267 people, including 132 people who were just walking along.

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New York City is moving forward with plans to expand many of its pandemic-era efforts to make streets more accessible to pedestrians and bikers.

These projects, which tap some of the $375 million in funding earmarked to make the city “cleaner and greener,” include more pedestrian plazas on congested streets, wider sidewalks and expanded public space, such as an area below the Manhattan side of the iconic Brooklyn Bridge.

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You can do something about it.

The City of Toronto is in the final stages of reviewing and updating the Noise Bylaw and you can voice your opinion in the next few days. Send a letter, or register to make a deputation at City Hall on January 11.

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In a significant development last month, the City of Toronto unveiled new designs for Avenue Road at an open house event, signalling progress in addressing the long-standing issues. The designs aim to transform Avenue Road into a more pedestrian-friendly, people-friendly environment, prioritizing safety, comfort and connectivity.

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