Biking to Work new Bike infrastructure - July 9, 2026

I didn't take my usual route to work today, instead I wanted to check out some of the recent additions to Toronto active transportation infrastructure. From Bloor Street I went south on Shaw. I know the bikeway there has been in place for a while, but I've never really had a reason to use it. There were a few other cyclists on the route too. It's quite pleasant! From Shaw, I turned onto Harbord, which I have used before. Lots of people on bikes making use of those lanes. Not many cars though. From Harbord, I turned onto Palmerston to check out those lanes and the alternating one-ways. I've been seeing lots of complaints on Facebook from residents on Euclid claiming that this has resulted in a lot of traffic for them, so I made a plan to head home on Euclid in the afternoon. From Palmerston, I turned onto College. I've used these bike lanes before too and it's always much more pleasant than it used to be. Hardly any cars on the road. I then turned onto Bathurst and I really expected to have to deal with a lot of traffic because I keep hearing what a disaster the streetcar priority on Bathurst is, but I saw no evidence of that. North and south car lanes were pretty empty all the way to Queen. There's nothing new or interesting on Queen, although again hardly any traffic and it was 8:30am by then! Next up was Portland. The new bi-directional bike lanes on Portland were a treat. I don't generally like bi-directional bike lanes, and these felt a little narrow to me, but it's a narrow street and the design has managed to maintain some loading areas, so I can see what they were trying to do. I'd heard so much whining and complaining about the Portland and Wellington intersection, but I hadn't realized until I rode through there that it actually solves a bit problem, which is the jog. There are so many jogs in Toronto which cause so many traffic problems. Now it's gone, easy peasy. Once people get used to it nobody is even going to remember what it used to be like. From Portland I turned onto Front Street which has got to be one of the worst streets in Toronto, a real car sewer, and so wide! It could really use a re-design.