Location
Overview map
Stewart St. is a one-way westbound route that comes to a T with Waller. Cars can only go right, but there is a break in the divide for cyclists to take a left. Waller has a bicycle lane in the middle, which turns onto the left bike lane on the MacKenzie King Bridge.
It is a city-designated bike route, and many cyclists use this route to connect from Stewart St. to downtown.
Note that this article deals with west-bound traffic, whereas the article on Mackenzie King Bridge and Waller deals with east-bound traffic.
The problem
When cyclists approach the end of Stewart, they must cross the north-bound traffic on Waller. There’s a break in the median designed to allow bicycles through. They must then cross two lanes of traffic to get to the bicycle lane which runs in the middle of Waller.
Crossing these two lanes of southbound Waller is extremely dangerous. Cyclists must first cross a bus lane, and then a lane of traffic heading to the 417. This route is used by many trucks as a connector from the Macdonald Cartier Bridge from Quebec to the 417.
Diagram showing path a cyclist has to take to get from Stewart St. to the bicycle lane in the middle of the Mackenzie King Bridge. Photo by Paul Clarke, August 2010.
Cyclists also have no way to know how to navigate this maze.
Proposed solutions
1) Reroute the designated route altogether
Having bicycles compete with busses and trucks will be very difficult to do. The route could be altered to take cyclists across Laurier instead. The following is a map that shows this route:
Map showing potential alternate route
2) Add signage and painted lane lines for cyclists to indicate the route they should take to turn left onto Waller St., and signage for Waller St. southbound indicating that cyclists are turning.
3) A slight widening of the median on Waller St., if possible, would give cyclists enough room to wait safely to turn onto Waller St.
4) Paint crosshatching on the left lane of Waller St. southbound at Stewart St. and a sign indicating that traffic should wait behind the crosshatches when traffic is stopped.
I make this crossing a few times a week in rush hour, and I am satisfied. If you are patient (and everybody has to be in this busy area), there will be a clear and easy opening in all lanes of traffic. I don’t like your alternate idea. Laurier Ave. is too busy and Laurier bridge is much worse than McKenzie-King, especially with DND people blocking the bike lanes at DNDHQ to load and unload.
[...] that the problems in this article deal going east at this intersection, whereas the article on Stewart and Waller deals with going [...]
An excellent portrayal of this problem. This is right on, except that the first lane cyclists have to cross to head south on Waller isn’t a bike lane (although it looks like one on the Streetview photo) – it’s a bus lane (that’s shown on your marked-up aerial photo, but with no arrow). Even more fun.
This is a well-used route, given the lack of other ways to get into downtown.
The southbound bike lane is tucked in between the ‘trucks only’ lane and the right turn lane (marked by a blue line) which puts a cyclist in the blind spot of a transport truck.