Raise the Hammer

Yes, I've ridden various residential roads between Locke and Gage Park. These crossings are definitely risky, but are less scarier than biking through some parts of downtown Toronto. The cars zoom by in surges with large gaps in between, so it is easy to find a moment in crossing. Crossing Main-King is no fun (when I want to get to Cannon) but at least the cars go by in surges due to the traffic lights -- and I'm crossing the road to reach a safe road -- not biking along it. When you're biking in the early morning (for a 6:45am GOtrain), the traffic is also much lower, or biking home in the evening (e.g. after a 6:30pm or 7:00pm GO train), it's not bad either. And weekends aren't too bad especially when staying away from 1-way streets.

If you stay on some roads further south, you end up biking under some of the worst parts -- the mountain roads become overpasses -- instead of actually crossing ALL mountain access roads. Stinson road is an UNDERPASS for the scary Claremont Access -- so you DO NOT need to worry about Claremont.

Likewise, riding west, where Delaware meets Wentorth, there is often 30 seconds of silence on Wentorth thanks to the synchronized traffic lights at Main-King, as Wentworth at this location is a one-way street heading south, and at this specific corner of this specific intersection, there's no hidden turns for speeding cars to suddenly appear, as you see clear all cars that won't hit you until you've long safely crossed Wentworth. At this point, simply cross to Delaware on west side of Wentworth (don't ride north/south on Wentworth), and head one block west then one block south to Stinson.

Conversely, riding east, turn left (onto Grant) one block before Wentworth, go north 1 block on a child-friendly residential road, then turn right onto Delaware which crosses Wentworth. You'll observe Delaware east/west of Wentworth is a little offset, but you work with it (walk bike 25 meters if you wish), near that Hamilton Continuing Care that's at that location.

Beyond this, only have about three other scary crossings to worry about, which aren't scary if you're bike-smart and pay attention. You're only crossing these -- not riding on these.

We need to see more protected bike lanes -- including south of Main/King -- for east/west bike movements, and also better connections to the Cannon bike lanes.

Comment edited by mdrejhon on 2015-07-14 12:59:46