On March 25th, 2009 Waterfront Toronto, the entity responsible for revitilizing Toronto's waterfront held a public consultation to finally reveal the preferred option for the redesign of Queen's Quay. To this point a design which would make room for a continuous Martin Goodman Trail along Toronto's central waterfront by removing two traffic lanes among the several options being considered, but in my mind seeing the Toronto Waterfront choose such an option was by no means a certainty. After the meeting it was apparent that we are a big step closer to realizing that goal but we are still not quite there yet.

The formal presentation started with introductions and the outlining of the agenda, then a review of the consultation process to this point, then outlining the five options that had orignially been considered. I sat nervously as the presentation dragged on, waiting for the big announcement. Next the evaluation of the three short listed alternatives on a number of different criteria. Then finally, on slide 62 of the powerpoint, without any fanfare the option which retained the traffic lanes on the south side of the transit right of way was eliminated.

During the next slide the presenter made it official. The preferred technical option was 4, well and 5, "but we are leaning to 4". Actually the technically recommended alternative was "Southside Transit" which is in fact a huge step. This means that the two traffic lanes south of the Transit right of way will be removed and in its place will be "Generous pedestrian boulevards" a 'Continuous off-street Martin Goodman Trail, completing the Lake Ontario Trail." This decision should give cyclists cause for celebration but after looking at the details of the plan it became clear that there is more work to do to.

The difference between the two options is primarily is that how the two remaining traffic lanes will be used. Option 4 has two way traffic and option 5 has one way traffic. However another significant difference between the designs is that in Option 4 the Martin Goodman Trail will not be continuous. Between Bathurst and YoYo Ma lane there will be on street bike lanes leaving a gap in the Martin Goodman Trail. Option 5 has the continuous Martin Goodman Trail right from Parliament to Bathurst.

These photos of the section of the Queens Quay redesign options show the difference for cyclists between the options. The Martin Goodman Trail is indicated as the thick red line. (Click on the image to see a larger version)

Aside from the fact that the option 4 does not achieve one of the primary design goals of creating a continuous Martin Goodman Trail it creates a bottleneck for westbound cyclists who have to cross the street to the north side bike lane at YoYo Ma Lane. In the designs this is shown as a pedestrian activated signal with cyclists crossing with pedestrians in a crosswalk. Given the huge volume of cyclists that will be using the trail this will create many dangerous situations for cyclists and pedestrians.

Option 4 creates a hazardous situation for cyclists by directing Martin Goodman Trail users to the west bound bike lanes on the north side of the street. The trail is indicated by the thick red line.

Option 4 should be eliminated from consideration on this part of the design. For criteria A.3.3 East West Connection (MG Trail) of page 55 of the evening's presentation: Queens Quay EA and East Bayfront EA Public Forum #3 - March 25 2009 (pdf) both option 4 and option 5 are evaluated as being equal in this regard. In fact Option 4 should be rated poor which I think should tip the overall balance in the evaluation towards Option 5.

So, the final decision has not been made there is still time to have your input into the designs to ensure that the design approved by City Council this July truly keeps with the original goals of the project. The public can comment until Friday April 17th, 2009. You can see the presentation which includes information on the designs at the following link PRESENTATION: Queens Quay EA and East Bayfront EA Public Forum #3 - March 25 2009 (pdf). The comment form which includes the contact information is at the following link: WORKBOOK: Queens Quay EA and East Bayfront EA Public Forum #3 - March 25, 2009 (pdf). You can also e-mail your comments to central@waterfrontoronto.ca.

While ensuring that the trail is a continuous off-street trail is a major concern there are other parts of the design that deserve comment. One is about the design of intersections and connections to other Bikeway Network routes. There are 4 streets with bike lanes shown in the designs that will intersect with the redesigned Queens Quay and the Martin Goodman Trail: Lower Simcoe, Yonge street, Lower Sherbourne Street and Bay street. There needs to be be a look at how these intersections will be designed to handle the flow of cyclists turning from the Martin Goodman Trail north onto the bike lanes and the flow of cyclists turning east and west onto the trail from the south bound bike lanes. The intersections should incorporate bike boxes for cyclists in the southbound bike lanes who are waiting to turn cross over to the trail and a similar queuing area for cyclists turning north from the east and west bound lanes of the trail. Bike Boxes are now a part of the TAC Bicycle Pavement Markings guidelines and should be incorporated in the design of this project. You can see an explanation of bike boxes on page 31 of a presentation from TAC at the 2008 ProWalk-ProBike Conference. New Lines on the Road: Canada’s Guidelines for the Design and Application of Bikeway Pavement Markings.

Intersections need to be designed to ensure cyclists can safely and easily move from the north south Bikeway Network connecting routes to the east west Martin Goodman trail.

Another pavement marking that should be incorporated from the above guidelines is the 'Elephant's feet' crossings which designate where cyclists on an off-street trail should cross a roadway. You can see an explanation of these on page 16 of the New Lines on the Road: Canada’s Guidelines for the Design and Application of Bikeway Pavement Markings

At the locations where cyclists cross streets that run south of Queen's Quay there should be separate bike crossings marked with the Elephant's feet pavement markings.

A final concern is the loosing of the connection between the Martin Goodman Trail and the intersection of Queens Quay and Parliament Street. Currently you can ride from the Queens Quay bike lane or the Martin Goodman Trail to the short section of trail that runs on the north side of Lake Shore Blvd. between Parliament and Cherry Street. This provides a direct connection to the Lake Shore East bicycle path via the bicycle pedestrian bridge over the Don River. It is also a direct connection to the popular Distillery District. In both designs the streetcar turn loop is a barrier preventing the connection. A connector path should be made east of the loop from the Martin Goodman Trail to the south east corner of Queen's Quay with a bike crossing with 'elephant's feet' markings across Lake Shore Blvd to the path.

The removal of the bicycle lanes on the eastern portion of Queen's Quay and the planned re-alignment of Queens Quay will remove a direct connection for cyclists to the Lakeshore East path. The designs should include a connector path to keep that connection.

Hopefully with enough public comment the balance will tip to Option 5 or Option 4 will be reworked to have the Martin Goodman Trail run between YoYo Ma Lane and Bathurst Street. Ideally the next step would be to have the section between Bathurst St. and Stadium road changed from the current on-street bike lanes to a separated two way path on the south side of the road to make the Martin Goodman Trail a truly continuous off-street trail from Humber Bay Park in the west to the Beaches in the East. As a City we get one chance to do this right. Half measures shouldn't make the cut. So send in your comments to make sure that the plan that Waterfront Toronto recommends to the City of Toronto's Executive Committee on June 2nd, 2009 makes cycling the waterfront a wonderful experience for Toronto residents and visitors.

There are still several steps of this ongoing environmental assessment process that have to be completed before the plans get the final seal of approval and work can start. The Mayor and the Executive Committee of Council will have the report on the agenda of their June 2nd, 2009 meeting. There will be an opportunity for deputations at this meeting so this is your chance to comment on the final recommendations for the revitalization of Queens Quay. From there it will go to Council on July 6th for approval. After that the Environmental Study Report will be filed in August and there will be a 30 day comment period in September of 2009.

So as this project inches to wards approval and ultimate completion it is more important than ever for cyclists and other trail users to keep involved in the process to show support for the options and the designs that will make this a waterfront that you can get to and through by bike.