Toronto to get $500 million bicycle route network

Toronto city council will spend $500 million over the next two years building a network of separated bike lanes that will criss-cross the city, connecting the disjointed parts of the city's existing cycling network. The major construction project, which has been percolating in secret for over a year, will include free tire pumping stations and a number of parking corrals at busy downtown locations.

On major roads, the lanes will be separated from vehicular traffic by a raised bed of planters or, in some cases, a rubber hump. Activists who have long campaigned for better protection for cyclists on roads like Bloor St., Danforth Ave., and Yonge St., and Queen St. will be pleased: all are included in the program.

"It's about redressing the balance, encouraging people to take up cycling, and protecting those who already bike to get to work," says Avril Tromper from the city's cycling division. "Yonge Street is a good example of where foot traffic can often outnumber road traffic ... adding bike lanes and widening the sidewalk makes sense."

As I recall, the first phase of the Bike St. Louis project was under $200,000.  The long-awaited BikeKC project, decades in the making, involved about $2.5 million in grant projects.

So can we say that the priorities in Toronto are just a little bit different?  And this is the type of major city that Missouri's major cities are competing against . . .