The Things They Don't Tell You

Because this is Canada, and, more to the point, because this is Toronto, raging civic debates are about  things like bike lanes and plastic bags instead of religion or race.

But, while the topics may be mild the rage is very real.

Take, for example, the current kerfuffle about the Jarvis Street and Sherbourne Street bike lanes. During the watch of our previous not-all-that-insane mayor David Miller, a five-lane in-city highway -- Jarvis Street -- connecting the tony north-of-Bloor neighbourhoods with the bank tower canyons downtown was renovated to lose one car lane and add north- and southbound bike lanes. The tony people who live in those north-of-Bloor neighbourhoods and who work in the bank towers were outraged at the loss of the car lane because it added, oh, a minute or so to their commute.

Rob Ford, our current, not-all-that-sane mayor promised in his election campaign that he would destroy the Jarvis bike lanes, a promise he has still not quite kept, but the plans are afoot.

One foot of that plan is to renovate about ten blocks of Sherbourne Street into bike heaven, with the niftiest kind of biking environment imaginable, as you can see here.

Sherbourne and Jarvis run parallel to one another, are only one block apart and both connect the nice north-of-Bloor regions with the concrete core, so from a perspective of providing a reasonable alternative to the Jarvis lanes -- if you are inclined to mollify the well-heeled -- you could do worse than Sherbourne Street.

Unless, of course, you are a Toronto bike rider. Then the switch to Sherbourne and its nice raised biking spaces (the lanes on Jarvis are just paint on the road) is a travesty unparalleled in history. In the meantime, motorists of all stripes are complaining about the construction congestion on both Jarvis and Sherbourne Streets.  

As a pedestrian, and a resident of Sherbourne Street, I find myself short of compassion for either side. My neighbours and I have thrown our own little fits over the loss of street parking on our stretch of Sherbourne and over the stunning new restrictions on access to our own properties. But I'm also sure the bike lanes will calm traffic on Sherbourne, diverting a lot of the heavy trucks and buses to Jarvis. Most of all, the bike lane construction plan includes the complete resurfacing of our street, a civic project overdue these past ten years or so. The cracks and potholes on Sherbourne are the stuff of city legend and it will be good to put that behind us.

But, just when you think you understand a situation something unexpected comes along:

No one mentioned Sherbourne would be shredded right to my doorstep, so this came as a bit of a surprise.  

Work crews are quickly filling these excavations with concrete.  Next week's picture: Bike Heaven.

Have a great week!

Karen