The Ontario government says it will introduce legislation that would require municipalities to get provincial approval before building any new bike lanes that reduce lanes of vehicle traffic.
The government will also request data from municipalities on bike lane projects initiated in the last five years, Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said Tuesday in Toronto.
Sarkaria made the announcement at an Etobicoke restaurant and pool hall on Bloor Street W. The busy thoroughfare has become a flash point for the debate about bike lanes in the city, with residents and business owners split over protected lanes that were recently installed.
Sarkaria said the ultimate decision on whether a lane of traffic can be removed for a bike lane will fall to the minister, not to bureaucrats within the ministry.
He also repeatedly implied the existing bike lanes on Yonge Street, Avenue Road, College Street, Harbord Street and Bloor Street in Toronto will be reviewed by the province. He suggested the provincial government could require the city to remove those lanes at a future date pending a review of data related to the lanes’ impacts on travel times for drivers.
The legislation, which will be introduced once the legislature resumes Oct. 21 after an extended summer break, will also include other measures the government says will tackle gridlock. Among them is a plan to increase speed limits to 110 km/h on all 400-series highways “where it is safe to do so.”
More to come.