{"id":3873,"date":"2014-09-03T15:42:01","date_gmt":"2014-09-03T20:42:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vivanext.com\/blog\/?p=3873"},"modified":"2014-09-03T15:42:01","modified_gmt":"2014-09-03T20:42:01","slug":"welcoming-all-cyclists-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/2014\/09\/03\/welcoming-all-cyclists-2\/","title":{"rendered":"welcoming all cyclists"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"welcoming<\/a><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been focusing recently on all the features of the new rapidways as we wind up construction on Highway 7 to Town Centre Boulevard \u2013 a project that will make transit truly rapid along Highway 7 East. Many of the design features were developed to ensure that all users of the Highway 7 East corridor feel welcome and secure as they enjoy the new rapidways.\u00a0 Cyclists make up a large percentage of commuters so ensuring their safety, as well as the safety of other motorists and pedestrians, is important in creating convenient and cohesive roads. Biking is a healthy, environmentally friendly way to get around, and the vivaNext corridors are helping to facilitate this. Viva vehicles now have bike racks on the front for easy loading as you travel around York Region.<\/p>\n

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. Unlike in many urban settings, York Region cyclists will have these lanes to themselves. Our new bike lanes are \u201cdedicated,\u201d meaning they\u2019re not shared at any point with other vehicles.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re following the established safety standards, making the bike 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 areas around intersections, with special bike lane markings to clearly identify them mid-block.<\/p>\n

With the high volume of traffic, bike lanes will provide a much more comfortable and secure environment for cyclists riding along Highway 7. Eventually cyclists will want to turn right or left from Highway 7. Waiting in the left turn lane with vehicles to cross multiple lanes of traffic and the rapidway wouldn\u2019t be safe on a bike, so we\u2019re adding another feature to make the experience better for cyclists. They\u2019re called bike boxes, and they\u2019ll make the corridor more welcoming to cyclists.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how they work. Cyclists turning left from 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. This area, known as a \u201cbike box,\u201d will offer cyclists a waiting zone while they wait for the light to change. Once the light changes, they will then cross Highway 7 along with other north\/south traffic. For a demonstration, see York Region\u2019s video about bike boxes<\/a>.<\/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. 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 as we wind up construction on Highway 7 to Town Centre Boulevard \u2013 a project that will make transit truly rapid along Highway 7 East. Many of the design features were developed to ensure that all users of the Highway 7 East corridor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,30],"tags":[437,439,438,27,114,47,34,61,6,7,9],"class_list":["post-3873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-going-green","category-rapidways","tag-bike-box","tag-bike-lane","tag-cyclist","tag-environmentally-friendly","tag-highway-7","tag-markham","tag-rapidway","tag-richmond-hill","tag-viva","tag-vivanext","tag-york-region"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3873","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=3873"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3877,"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3873\/revisions\/3877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}