Submitted by yvonne on 25 May, 2009 - 19:13

What a fantastic way to kick off Bike Month - a day-long City Council debate about a single, bike related  issue... The redesign of Jarvis St., including complete bike lanes, was passed at 6:20pm today - 28 to 16 in favour of incorporating sustainable transportation infrastructure into a major redesign project in the downtown core.

This is a big win for our city's cyclists, and for the Toronto Cyclists Union who got the wheels rolling on this issue last fall by submitting a report to Transportation that showed the viability of bike lanes, in addition to some of the proposed pedestrian realm improvements.  This is particularly important because the original scope of the Environmental Assessment (EA) did not include any consideration of cyclists, and was focussed solely on the beautification of the pedestrian realm.

Big thanks to area Councillor Kyle Rae for championing the ammendment to the EA for the inclusion of bike lanes that was passed unanimously at the Works and Infrastructure committee meeting 3 weeks ago - this would not have been possible without his strong support and tireless work behind the scenes to secure the vote.  It would also not have been possible without the huge turnout of cyclists to council chambers this morning in support of these bike lanes - we filled the seats and the standing room!!

Congratulations and thank you to all two-wheelers on this historic day!