A few weeks ago the City of Toronto installed three speed bumps on the park access road leading from the back of the Sunnybrook Hospital facility on Bayview Ave to the bridge across the Don near the riding stables in Sunnybrook Park. The bumps are not of the gently-inclined variety frequently seen in traffic-calming schemes around Toronto neighbourhoods, but are quite steep and dangerous for a cyclist to traverse at any speed. Further, no provision is made for a bypass at either the middle or the edge of the bump as is usually done. While there may have been a solid reason for installing the bumps we believe that due consideration was not given to all potential road users. The bumps need to be removed entirely or at least made more cycling-friendly.

A second issue has arisen due to a re-routing of the Don River now underway in E.T. Seton Park just south of the Eglinton Ave overpass. The project undertaken by the Toronto Regional Conservation Authority (TRCA) will take 9 to 12 months. This route is an integral part of the Don Valley Trail system, and numerous cyclists use the route for commuting. Many others use it for recreational purposes, roller blading, biking. etc.

There is presently a path either side of the river, and their plan is to work on one side at a time, permitting the flow of persons. However, the "temporary" path will be a dirt path for the 9 to 12 months, and will only be paved at the project's completion. Commuting cyclists rely on hard pack or asphalt and thus I have requested that they lay a temporary hard surface so that worksite mud, stones, etc. will not prevent cycling. There are a large number of people who rely on this route for their commute, avoiding busy roads and traffic. It would be very inconvenient for riders to have to redirect their commute to main roads, simply due to the path surface.

City Parks Manager, Roger Macklin, who is responsible for decisions concerning the project, assured TBN member and frequent trail user Juliet Lev that if there is enough signature support then consideration will be taken to alter both the speed bumps to a safer design, and make a temporary hard surface to allow for cycling through the park while the Don River project is in progress.

Juliet Lev who notified us of this issue and supplied much of the information for this article has supplied a draft of the letter she sent to Roger Macklin, the City Parks Manager. Feel free to download (MSWord, or PDF version), and modify if you so desire, before faxing it to the number printed near the top of the page. Mr. Macklin requested that all communication be by fax or phone. Please support these issues by signing the letter to be mailed or Faxed to Roger Macklin, City Parks Manager.

Owen Rogers
webadmin@biketoronto.ca