Cyclists union decries cost of Jarvis ‘gravy lane’

The Toronto Cyclists Union claims Mayor Rob Ford will waste more than a quarter of a million taxpayer dollars on removing bike lanes from Jarvis, which it denounced as a “gravy lane” project—a play on the mayor’s famous “gravy train” catchphrase.

On Thursday the cycling advocacy group released its tally of the cost of removing the controversial Jarvis bike lanes and it claims the project cost taxpayers $272,000, which is $72,000 more than planned.

“Although city staff have released data showing that Jarvis Street works well for all road users, Mayor Ford and his administration are prepared to throw away over a quarter million dollars of taxpayers’ money,” Andrea Garcia, director of advocacy for the cycling union said in a statement.

“This unnecessary cost reveals this project as a Gravy Lane.”

The bike lanes on Jarvis were installed in July 2010 at a cost of $86,000, according to the cyclists’ union.

The city removed a fifth lane of traffic to accommodate the bike lanes. A city staff report showed cycling traffic tripled on the route due to the new lanes. The same report stated the removal of the fifth lane for vehicles slowed southbound traffic by about a minute and northbound traffic by four minutes during rush hour.

The cycling union’s $272,000 estimate is $72,000 higher than what the city had predicted. The union claims it will cost $200,000 to install overhead wiring and signalling hardware and an additional $72,000 to remove pavement markings and redraw the route as a five-lane road.

The cycling union requested the information needed for its cost breakdown from the city’s transportation services department.

Council voted in favour of removing the bike lanes in July after heated debate on the issue. The city will move forward with Ford’s cycling plan, which includes bike lanes on Sherbourne Street, the Bloor Viaduct and Wellesley. More lanes are planned for the Richmond-Adelaide corridor following a feasibility study. Lanes are also planned for Harbord Street.

The new bike lanes are part of the mayor’s bike plan — a 100-kilometre network of bike trails connected by street lanes.

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