{"id":3147,"date":"2013-08-29T07:48:25","date_gmt":"2013-08-29T12:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vivanext.com\/blog\/?p=3147"},"modified":"2013-08-29T07:55:35","modified_gmt":"2013-08-29T12:55:35","slug":"welcoming-all-cyclists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/2013\/08\/29\/welcoming-all-cyclists\/","title":{"rendered":"welcoming all cyclists"},"content":{"rendered":"

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We\u2019ve been focusing recently on all the features of the new rapidways, which together are going to make transit truly rapid along Highway 7. \u00a0\u00a0But it\u2019s important to remember that many of the design features were developed to ensure that all users of the Highway 7 corridor feel welcome and secure.\u00a0 This includes transit users, pedestrians, cyclists and drivers \u2013 the \u201ccomplete street\u201d design concept which you can read more about here<\/a>.\u00a0 One of the features that have been installed on the rapidways are new dedicated bike lanes and bike boxes, which are painted green.<\/p>\n

To provide safety and convenience the new bike lanes will extend 5 kilometres, from Chalmers to South Town Centre Boulevard with lanes on both the north and south sides of Highway 7.\u00a0 Unlike in many urban settings, York Region cyclists will have these lanes to themselves \u2013our new bike lanes are dedicated, meaning they\u2019re not shared at any point with vehicles.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re following the established safety standards, making the lanes 1.4 metres wide, with an additional half metre for a buffer zone between the bike and traffic lanes. Also to give maximum visibility for the bike lanes, they\u2019ll be painted a high-contrast green in the areas around intersections, with special bike-lane markings to clearly identify them in the mid-block.<\/p>\n

With the high volume of traffic, the bike lanes will provide a much more comfortable and secure environment for cyclists riding along Highway 7.\u00a0 But eventually most cyclists will want to turn off of Highway 7, with some needing to make left turns.\u00a0 Waiting in the left turn lane with vehicles to cross multiple lanes of traffic and the rapidways wouldn\u2019t be safe on a bike, so we\u2019re adding another feature to make the experience better for cyclists.\u00a0 They\u2019re called bike boxes, and they will make the corridor more welcoming to cyclists.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how they work.\u00a0 Cyclists wanting to turn left off Highway 7 will proceed through the signalized east\/west intersection in the bike lane into the far side \u00a0then stop in a protected area, reserved for cyclists, tucked into the boulevard on the far side of the intersection.\u00a0 This area, known as a bike box, will offer cyclists a waiting zone while they wait for the light to change.\u00a0 Once the light changes, they will then cross Highway 7 along with other north\/south traffic.<\/p>\n

The bike boxes will be clearly marked with green paint like the bike lanes and other markings, so drivers and pedestrians will know they are for cyclists only.\u00a0 Permanent bike boxes will be put in place this fall and replace the painted ones on the street, so by next spring cyclist will have a great new pathway to follow, with the latest of features.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re excited to be providing these new features for York Region cyclists, and know that they\u2019re going to help make this corridor much more welcoming to all travellers, no matter how they choose to get around.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve been focusing recently on all the features of the new rapidways, which together are going to make transit truly rapid along Highway 7. \u00a0\u00a0But it\u2019s important to remember that many of the design features were developed to ensure that all users of the Highway 7 corridor feel welcome and secure.\u00a0 This includes transit users, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,30,19],"tags":[18,27,350,114,47,50,14,34,61,11,939,48,6,7,9],"class_list":["post-3147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-rapidways","category-urban-planning","tag-city-planning","tag-environmentally-friendly","tag-growth","tag-highway-7","tag-markham","tag-mixed-use-development","tag-rapid-transit","tag-rapidway","tag-richmond-hill","tag-transit-only-lanes","tag-urban-planning","tag-vaughan","tag-viva","tag-vivanext","tag-york-region"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3147"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3150,"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3147\/revisions\/3150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}