Tag: Ontario Traffic Manual

One more signal will do it…

A mess of signs and signals on King Street West at Portland Avenue

On a lovely weekday afternoon in early June, I went for a ride through Downtown Toronto to check out the changes to Portland Street between Richmond Avenue and Front Street. This side street, just west of the downtown core, connects the busy Richmond-Adelaide cycle tracks with the Puente De Luz walking/cycling bridge across the Union Station Rail Corridor to CityPlace and via Dan Leckie Way to the Waterfront.

While the City of Toronto is currently restricted in adding new cycling lanes on major corridors, it continues to piece together alternative routes where possible; Portland Street, which parallels congested Spadina Avenue and Bathurst Street, is one of those opportunities. A new two-way cycle track was opened while most of Portland Street itself is now one-way for motorists.

Looking south at the end of Portland Street towards CityPlace and the ramp to the Puente De Luz Bridge (bridge at far left)

At Portland and Wellington Streets, an interesting new traffic alignment diverts motor traffic around the complex intersection while permitting through cyclist and pedestrian movement on all sides, improving safety for all road users. On Portland Street northbound and southbound, drivers are required to turn right onto Wellington maintaining local access while discouraging through drivers. This new layout, complete with Muskoka chairs laid out in the middle of the intersection is unusual for Toronto and is more common in cycling-friendly cities such as Montreal. Emergency vehicles can still pass through, following the cycling paths.

Slide from 2024 City of Toronto presentation depicting the new diverter at Portland and Wellington

Wellington Street is a designated east-west cycling route connecting the Downtown Core and west end neighbourhoods like Parkdale and Liberty Village and will eventually hookup with an extension of the West Toronto Railpath. Together with increased density in the downtown area, this intersection will only get busier with cyclists and pedestrians in the future.

Portland looking north at Wellington. Motorists must turn in one direction from Wellington or Portland, opening up the middle of the crossing to a four-way cycling intersection, with planters and colourful Muskoka chairs

Comfortable places to sit in the middle of an intersection

Despite the very unToronto urban intervention at Portland and Wellington, a very Toronto intervention continues one block north at King Street. Though the King Street Pilot was launched in November 2017, over eight years ago, little has been done since to improve the street for pedestrians or transit users. To discourage motorists from illegally proceeding through intersections (intended to eliminate congestion for streetcars and buses), the curb lanes are blocked with painted Jersey barriers. More recently, additional traffic lights were installed, so there are now signals for transit, cyclists, motorists, and pedestrians.

At Portland, and every other intersection that drivers are not permitted to go straight (taxi drivers are excepted after 10 pm), the traffic signals remain red at all times. A right green arrow appears for 5-10 seconds at the beginning of the cycle, allowing motorists to turn unimpeded. At Portland, however, eastbound motorists on King may not make a right on red because of the two-way cycle track on the west side of the street. Because of all these restrictions, there are seven signs facing eastbound drivers affixed to the traffic pole, along with two transit signals, one traffic signal, two bicycle signals, and one pedestrian signal.

This could have been clearer

The amount of clutter here can be confusing and is also unsightly. First off, there is no need for the “bicycle signal” sign below the two bicycle signal heads and next to the pedestrian signal. The signal aspects are already clearly for bicycles without the sign. Revising the Ontario Traffic Manual (OTM) to allow red arrows on traffic signals could both simplify the yellow traffic signal here and eliminate the need for the “no right turn on red” sign. It would also be clear then that right is the only permitted sign. Speaking of the OTM, dedicated transit signal aspects such as those used in Europe or even several American cities would eliminate the need for the “transit signal” sign and further reduce confusion. If the late night taxi exception was removed, the “no left turn” and “no straight movement” signs could be consolidated as well.

But most of all, the sign clutter makes it even more clear that the King Street Pilot configuration needs to become permanent, with raised curb extensions at the far sides of each intersection, with a level platform for streetcar boarding. Permanent planters and benches would be a visual cue to drivers that King Street is not a throughfare, but a pedestrian and transit-first corridor.

There is a lot less sign clutter along Seventh Avenue in Calgary, which is exclusively a transit and pedestrian corridor

June 9, 2026
The trouble with those “cyclists dismount” signs

Recently, I wrote about inconsistent, misleading, and problematic signage at road construction sites. Too often, cyclists are instructed to dismount and walk when a bike lane or general traffic lane is closed for construction.

But these signs also exist where many multi-use trails and paths cross intersections. In suburban municipalities such as Brampton and Mississauga, multi-use paths adjacent to major roadways are preferred over on-street bike lanes (protected or not). But they too, are littered with signs instructing cyclists to stop, get off their bikes, and walk across the intersection, such as the example illustrated below, in Mississauga.

The trouble is, the Ontario Traffic Manual (OTM), used by transportation planners and engineers to design roadways and install the appropriate signage, takes a dim view of signage requiring cyclists to dismount when on roadways or on multi-use trails:

“It is sometimes necessary for cyclists to dismount their bicycle and walk when the terrain or cycling conditions are difficult and no alternatives exist. However, the option of asking cyclists to dismount and walk their bikes should not be relied upon in lieu of adequately accommodating cyclists through appropriate road design.”

Book 18 of the OTM (available here as a PDF) states that the “dismount and walk” sign should “be used only in exceptional cases, such as where an in-boulevard facility ends, and cyclists would discharge into a sidewalk or pedestrian zone.” This clearly means that these signs should not exist when a bike route or multi-use trail crosses a driveway or an intersection, but only when the route ends and becomes a sidewalk, or at a pedestrian mall where cycling is not permitted. (Page 118, OTM Book 18, 2013 edition.)

Excerpt from page 118, book 18 of the Ontario Traffic Manual, December 2013 edition

The OTM also says that “…cyclists usually find it difficult to rationalize why “dismount and walk” restrictions are in place, and conclude that they were a poor, illogical or arbitrary decision. Thus, if facility designs cause cyclists to make what they consider to be unnecessary stops, this will increase the likelihood that they will ignore or disobey traffic controls.”

What the Ontario Traffic Manual does specify, is how signage, road markings, and design should be made to clearly mark crossing locations, warn motorists to watch for cyclists, and to remind cyclists to yield to pedestrians. Figure 4.103 from OTM Book 18, shown below, illustrates how a mixed pedestrian and cyclist route on the side of a road — like those in Brampton and Mississauga — should meet an intersection. While signs warn motorists and cyclists to watch out for each other, and for cyclists to yield to pedestrians, there are no “cyclists dismount” signs to be seen in the diagram.

Illustration of how a multi-use trail should meet an intersection. Figure 4.103, from page 124, book 18 of the Ontario Traffic Manual, December 2013 edition

Multi-use trails are an effective way of providing safe cycling infrastructure, especially in the suburbs, where traffic speeds are higher and politics may not make installing bike lanes an easy sell. Traffic engineers have figured out that those ubiquitous “cyclists dismount” signs are not effective and developed designs that instead accommodate cyclists.

It’s time that municipalities figured this out.

November 8, 2017