When Pottery Road re-opened at the end of November, some drivers reported confusion about what the newly painted sharrows meant, with some thinking that the downhill lane was for bikes only. To help alleviate any confusion on Pottery Road, the City of Toronto has erected new signs to indicate that the lane is shared by cars and bikes, that bikes should ride down in the middle of the lane, and that drivers shouldn’t try to pass cyclists while going down the hill.
Because this kind of pavement marking is still relatively new, a lot of drivers and cyclists alike may not know exactly what to do when they encounter sharrows on the road. The City of Toronto has put together a FAQ explaining the ins and outs of sharrows. The City has also produced a video to introduce sharrows to all road users:
Update, May 19: the closure is now scheduled to begin on Tuesday, May 24.
For those cyclists accustomed to accessing the Don Valley, the Brick Works or Todmorden Mills via Pottery Rd. a change of route will soon be required.
The City expects reconstruction of Pottery Rd to last from Monday May 16 to September 6—the whole summer! (Exact dates will probably change though). An alternative route into the Don Valley is Beechwood Drive (at Broadview and O’Connor; see Google Map).
From the official Construction Notice (download PDF):
Local business access will be maintained (although only from one end of Pottery Rd, access either from Bayview Ave or Broadview Ave), and pedestrian access from Broadview Avenue (to Fantasy Farms & Todmorden Mills) will also be maintained. However there will be no through traffic on Pottery Road during construction… Work will typically take place from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday, with work after hours and on weekends as required.
There’s no mention to what extent construction will affect (north-south) traffic along the Don Valley recreational trail.
Once reopened in the Fall the rehabilitated Pottery Rd. will feature a 2 meter wide segregated, shared pathway on its western flank (much like it does presently); and bicycle friendly redesigns of the Pottery Rd pathway’s line beneath the DVP overpass as well as the Don Valley Recreational Trail/Pottery Rd. intersection.
Comments Off on New signs on Pottery Road 
Themocracy