December 12, 2025 - On December 16, City Council will consider a staff report to build over 20 km of new bike lanes including Rathburn Road, Trethewey Drive, and Kingston Road.
This comes after a hectic Infrastructure and Environment Committee (IEC) meeting last week where deputants sacrificed their speaking time to ensure the committee didn’t lose quorum so the vote wasn’t deferred to February 2026.
It’s now essential that City Council and the Mayor hear your support for these projects. It’s only a “win win solution” if Council supports the staff recommendations. They need to hear from you:
The full list of new and upgraded bike lanes:
• Alton Towers Neighbourhood Connections (cycle track and multi-use trail, Ward 23)
• Davenport Road (bike lane to cycle track, Ward 9)
• Keele Street (multi-use trail, Wards 6 and 7)
• Kingston Road (cycle track, Wards 20 and 24)
• Kipling Avenue (cycle track and multi-use trail, Ward 1)
• Malvern Neighbourhood Connections (cycle track, bike lane, multi-use trail, shared lanes, and sidewalk, Wards 23 and 25)
• Martin Grove Cycling Connections (cycle track and shared lanes, Ward 2)
• Morningside Avenue (multi-use trail, Ward 24)
• Rathburn Road (cycle track, Ward 2)
• Shoreham Drive and Murray Ross Parkway (cycle track, Ward 7)
• St. George Street (bike lane to cycle track, Ward 11)
• Trethewey Drive (cycle track, shared lanes, and contra-flow bike lane, Ward 5)
• Weston Road (cycle track, Ward 7)
• Willowdale Avenue (cycle track, Ward 18)
City transportation staff deserve kudos for advancing so many of these projects within the constraints of the province’s Bill 60 and without removing any motor vehicle lanes.
But achieving anywhere near the City’s already modest goal of 100 km of new and upgraded bike lanes over the next 3 years seems questionable. Our initial analysis suggests that over a dozen projects in the Council-approved 2025-2027 Cycling Network Plan (CNP) could now be at risk due to the province’s restrictive overreach, including:
• Blue Jays Way (King – Wellington)
• Danforth-Kingston Complete Street (Danforth section)
• Davisville Avenue
• Dupont Complete Street (Davenport – Lansdowne)
• Eglinton TOday Phase 2 (Mt. Pleasant – Brentcliffe)
• Gerrard Street East (Parliament – River)
• McCowan Road (Kingston – Eglinton)
• O’Connor & St. Clair (Woodbine – Victoria Park)
• Parkside Drive
• Victoria Park Avenue (Gerrard – Lawrence)
• Wellington Street (east of Blue Jays Way)
• Yonge Street (north of Davisville)
• YongeTOmorrow Project
Back in spring 2024, Cycle Toronto supporters were successful in getting an amendment to the 2025-2027 CNP for staff to report back in early 2025 on the feasibility of scaling up the delivery from 100 km to 150 km of new and major upgraded bikeways. (1) While it’s understandable why that report was delayed, it is imperative for Council to direct staff to report back in early 2026 to ensure there is sufficient budget, capacity, and direction to keep moving forward with the 2025-2027 CNP and begin planning the next 2028-2030 CNP.
The approved 3-year cycling capital budget for 100 km of bike lanes is $105 M or $35 M/yr for 33 km. (2) But the workarounds for the 20.5 km in this report are costed at $30.4 M. Back-of-envelope calculations suggest that proceeding with the CNP while working around Bill 60 could be up to 40% more expensive than currently budgeted.
The next few years are also a previously unplanned opportunity to upgrade the existing cycling network, including filling potholes in bike lanes (3) and replacing all quick build materials (pinned curbs, low walls, flexi-posts, etc) to permanent materials like poured concrete to enhance their comfort and beauty. (4)
Ontario is making it more challenging for Toronto to build cycling infrastructure. We can’t back down to bullies. The City must adapt to ensure it can keep meeting the demands of making riding a bike a better option for more Torontonians to meet our congestion management, climate action, and road safety goals.
Add your voice – Email City Council here.
Visit Cycle Toronto here.
P.S. And don’t forget to join us Sunday for a Harbord-Hoskin Celebration Ride meeting at Pedaal Bikes + Coffee at 2pm. Find out more and RSVP here.
Cycling Network Plan Update (2025 – 2027) here.
