Major highway crossings pose a significant risk to safety and comfort for cyclists and pedestrians. In general, many major highway or freeways have few crossings, and the crossings that exist are high-speed arterial roads. The arterial road crossings will frequently have on-ramps, forcing drivers to cross the path of any cyclist or pedestrian to the right at a high speed. For pedestrians, many sidewalks end at on-ramps and pedestrians are told to wait for traffic to pass. At the Brimley Road – 401 interchange for example, no dedicated bike lanes exist, and pedestrians are told to not use the east side to walk (despite the east side connecting homes with shops to the south).
Figure 1 – Brimley Road – 401 interchange (Source: Google Maps)
In the City of Toronto, there are only three Highway 401 crossings with dedicated cycling infrastructure: Conlins Road (a buffered cycle track that crosses no highway on-ramps), and crossings at Betty Sutherland Trail (as part of the Don Trail) and Humber River Recreational Trail.
Figure 2 – A map of Toronto with the three cycling-specific Highway 401 crossings marked
Figure 3 – Humber River Recreational Trail 401 crossing (source: Komoot)
Various infrastructural upgrades at such locations have improved quality of life for commuters engaging in active transport. For example, The City of Toronto improved the original bike lanes on Conlins Road between Ellesmere Road to Sheppard Avenue East, adding a combination of bicycle lanes and ‘cycle tracks’ (bicycle lanes that are physically separated from traffic) in 2019 (source: City of Toronto). Another example is the intersection of Danforth and the Don Valley on-ramp where the City of Toronto has installed a signalized active transportation crossing. Here, a dedicated traffic signal (in addition to the original car traffic signals) coordinates car and bike traffic, and a green-colored, unbroken bike lane that crosses the lane at the intersection helps cyclists maneuver the intersection safely.
Figure 4 - Danforth Ave and Don Valley Parkway on-ramp intersection in 2016, where cyclists are forced to merge across on-ramp traffic (source: Google Maps)
Figure 5 - Danforth Ave. intersection in 2021 after signalized crossing installation (source: Google Maps)
Figure 6 – Rendering of intersection treatment prior to installation (image source: Cycle Toronto via City of Toronto)
Upgrades such as these are examples of the kind of infrastructural improvements that can benefit active transport connectivity across Toronto’s major highways. But safety is paramount, and we could be doing even more. The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) has published a list of intersection treatment design interventions that improve safety and comfort of cyclists and pedestrians when traversing highway crossings, which we can draw inspiration from. These include infrastructural upgrades such as bike boxes, intersection crossing markings, two-stage turn queue boxes, median refuge islands, through bike lanes and combined bike/turn lanes.
Figure 7 – Median Refuge Island (source: NACTO, via pedbikeimages.org – Dan Burden)
Active transportation still faces challenges in Toronto, but there have been improvements, as mentioned earlier. Pedestrians and cyclists experience highways as barriers in their communities, limiting access to amenities and opportunities. Access Planning has been involved in numerous active transportation projects and is committed to improving the infrastructure and transit design for pedestrians, cyclists, and other active transportation users.
Banner image source: National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO)