Staff endorses direct route

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New bicycle lanes along Annette Street should go straight through, and not detour to preserve parking for businesses and residents according to a report going to next week's meeting of Toronto's Public Works and Infrastructure Committee.

The report follows a Sept. 15 public meeting in the community over the bike lanes, which are planned for Annette between Runnymede Road and Dundas Street West.

The routing of the bike lane has been controversial, as some residents and businesses have argued the lanes will result in less on-road parking.

Because of this, the city was considering establishing shared roadway routes on parallel streets to the north and south of Annette, and also "sharrow" markings on Annette that wouldn't constitute legal bike lanes.

But according to city staff, the majority of those attending the Sept. 15 meeting opted strongly for the direct route along Annette.

However, local Ward 13 (Parkdale-High Park) Councillor Bill Saundercook said he'll be advocating for the "sharrow" markings on an interim basis. He said that the bike lanes will delete about half the on-street parking on the stretch, and that will be a serious problem for two small business sections of the street.�"These people have been suffering for years as it is," he said. "There's no off-street parking for anybody here, so i'ts a real problem."

If it's approved by the committee when it meets Oct. 10 and Toronto Council when it meets later in the month, Toronto will have approved 37.6 kilometres of bike lanes this year, increasing the length of bike lanes in the city to 112.7 kilometres.

Toronto's Bike Plan anticipates 495 kilometres of lanes across the city.