Harmer Avenue bridge detour update

When the Harmer Avenue pedestrian/cycling bridge is under construction over the next two years, it will be unavailable as a crossing over the Queensway.

At the open house held in March, the City’s design team described its plan to put temporary cycling lanes on Holland between Kenilworth and Byron to help safely get riders through this corridor. Shortly after that open house, I distributed fliers to the most immediately affected residents on Holland to ensure they were aware of the plan.

In the wake of that broader awareness, residents on Holland have vociferously opposed the loss of parking. In response to that, and to the cost and technical challenges of alternative measures that would maintain much of the parking, the design team has now recommended the painting of sharrows on Holland, and to permit sidewalk riding between Byron and Kenilworth on the west side. This option is going forward.

I continue to advocate for measures such as a bi-directional cycling lane on the west-side-only to more safely detour cyclists around the construction, but even if that’s deemed feasible, it would not be implemented until months have passed.

Around 100-150 cyclists use the bridge daily during fair-weather months. I recently did a count and saw 30 cyclists in a peak 20-minute span. I would have preferred a better detour for this significant number of people who are temporarily losing a key piece of transportation infrastructure.