Make bike lanes priority, say snowed-in cyclists

By Tess Kalinowsky

Why do so many cyclists continue pedalling through the snow in Copenhagen? In part, because Copenhagen has more bike lanes and does a better job of clearing them, say Toronto cyclists.

The Toronto Cyclists Union has been pushing the city to clear bike lanes and make them a priority, and last year was better than the year before, said executive director Yvonne Bambrick. The union is also encouraging cyclists to call the city's 311 line to report sections that need clearing, she said.

"With more bike lanes all the time we do attempt to clear out as much as we can, predominantly in the downtown core," said Peter Noehammer, Toronto's director of transportation services. "At the current time there isn't a great deal of demand in the suburbs."

Plows try and leave at least a metre for bikes when they're clearing main roads but between street parking and sidewalk clearing, plow operators are often left in a quandary of where to put the snow, he said. It's problematic when the streets become overwhelmed by snow, said Fred Sztabinski of the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation.

"If there's nowhere for snow to go it can fall into the bike lane. The snow-clearing issue goes for streets without bike lanes, too, since the snow pileups by the curb pushes cyclists to share a now narrower lane with cars," he said.

"Piling the snow onto adjacent boulevards or sidewalks certainly isn't fair to pedestrians – especially in areas where sidewalks are narrow – so perhaps the city needs to explore snow removal (taking it to a dump site) for some heavily trafficked routes where they can't afford to simply push the snow aside when there's a heavy accumulation of snow."

A pilot program that saw 11 kilometres of the Martin Goodman Trail cleared last winter to the east and west of the downtown core will continue this year with more sweeping to prevent ice and snow buildup.