Humber-Happenings-Magazine-Spring-2016

LIFESTYLE
HUMBER BAY SHORES
MULTI-USE TRAIL
WHAT IS YOUR VIEW?
As most people in the Humber Bay
Shores area are aware, there are
growing conflicts between the
various users of our local park-side trail
between the Humber River and Grand
Harbour. This is exacerbated by the multiple
types of users. A major source of
conflict is that some people want to use
the park to get through our community as
quickly as possible (transit corridor),
while others want to slow down and
enjoy the view. As our community grows,
users of both the trail and the surrounding
park will increase significantly,
as will the potential for user conflict.
Our Humber Bay Shores trail users
include: recreational cyclists, high speed
transients, pedestrians, rollerbladers,
runners, dog-walkers and moms with
strollers. We all have a view on how our
trail should be shared, which varies with
the opinions of others. Perhaps we can
agree on the need for safety?
Conflict is compounded by the growth
of the Toronto bike network that will
funnel increasing volumes of traffic
through our community. Toronto Transportation
Services and Toronto Parks,
Forestry and Recreation recently published
a document entitled “Toronto Multi-Use
Trail Design Guidelines”. Based on this document,
it appears that the City of Toronto
views the multi-use trail passing through
our community as a “high-capacity trail”.
According to the document:
“High-capacity trails provide a special
function in the network. In the simplest
sense, they accommodate the highest
number of users, and can be compared to
the expressways in the road network or to
Humber Bay Shores signage.
large “City Parks” in the park network.
High-capacity trails address a broader
concept of “capacity” than simply greater
size or volume, however, and they do not
imply greater speed. They connect to significant
destinations within the city and
can be utilized to accommodate a wider
range or unusual distribution of usertypes,
to perform special functions, or to
address particular site conditions. Notably,
high-capacity trails may be destinations or
attractions themselves.”
To deal with some of the conflicts,
there are plans by City staff to have a separated
pedestrian and multi-use trail.
However, this will not resolve all of the
conflicts: there would still be a need to
cross the multi-use trail to get to the
pedestrian trail and the park, there would
still be conflicts between slower recreational
bike riders and those who choose
to travel at speeds far in excess of 20
km/h, and there is a question as to
whether the space allocated to either trail
would be adequate to meet the future
demands on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
Our local park by-the-lake is a public
park — it is not for the exclusive use of
our community. However, it must be recognized
that the park is located in what
is becoming one of the most densely
populated residential neighbourhoods in
the City. Between Park Lawn and the
Humber River, there will soon be 12,000
to 14,000 people within 200 metres of
the park, plus another 10,000 in the rest
of the community (not to mention the
population outcome of the Christies’
property). With the growing demands on
the park from both our HBS neighbourhood
and surrounding communities, the
focus should be on having people enjoy
the park, not getting through it as quickly
as possible.
City staff conducted a study of the College
Street bicycle lanes to develop a
speed profile for cyclists. Speed data for
1,058 cyclists was collected using radar
Cyclist-pedestrian accident on July 27, 2015 on HBS
multi-use trail. Photo: Robin Clay
20 HUMBER HAPPENINGS | SPRING 2016 HUMBERBAYSHORES.ORG