Item - 2019.TE7.126

The Toronto and East York Community Council recommends that:

1. City Council authorize an amendment to the previously approved lane configuration on Avenue Road, between Lynwood Avenue and Balmoral Avenue, adopted by City Council on July 4, 5, 6 and 7, 2017 under Item TE25.88 entitled 'Road Alteration and Parking
Amendment Pilot Project – Avenue Road', generally as shown in the attached Drawing 421G-3393, dated April 2019.

2. City Council, contingent upon approval of Recommendation 1 above, authorize the continuation of the Road Alteration and Parking Amendment Pilot Project on Avenue Road, between Lynwood Avenue and Balmoral Avenue, adopted under Item TE25.88 on July 4, 5, 6 and 7, 2017 for an additional period of one year. The commencement of the new one-year trial period will begin upon the installation of the new lane configuration set out in Recommendation 1 under Drawing 421G-3393.

 City Council on July 4, 5, 6 and 7, 2017 adopted Item TE25.88 entitled 'Road Alteration and Parking Amendment Pilot Project -Avenue Road' and in so doing, approved the alteration of Avenue Road, between Lynwood Avenue and Balmoral Avenue, generally as shown on Drawing No. 421G-2393, dated February 2017. Upon completion of a one-year trial period, Avenue Road is to be returned to its previous conditions.

Since the installation of the safety elements of the pilot project, my office has received positive feedback from the school and parents who take their children to Brown Junior Public School, along with advocates for more pedestrian safety on Avenue Road. We have also received constructive feedback as to how these alterations can be enhanced further, so that they can provide for more access and safety for cyclists as well as enhance traffic flow.

In response to this feedback, Traffic Operations has developed a new lane configuration that we want to implement for a year and observe how these changes improve the overall effect of the pilot. The right-most lane will be a through/right turn lane, the centre lane will be a through lane and the left-most lane will be a through/left turn lane. The introduction of a through/left-turn lane beginning approximately 37 metres north of Balmoral Avenue generally as shown on Drawing No. 421G3393, date April 2019, will provide a separate storage for southbound left-turning vehicles. The width of the pilot area within the right-most lane has been decreased in order to provide a lane width increase to the centre lane. The increased lane width is intended to provide additional separation between a cyclist and a vehicle who are both travelling in the centre lane alongside the pilot area.