Bay Street Bike Lanes

Study area

The City’s Cycling Master Plan (2009) identifies the need for an on-street cycling facility in this corridor to provide an efficient and safe network to encourage cycling. Bay Street bike lanes (Aberdeen Ave to Stuart St) will create a convenient connection between the Durand neighbourhood, the downtown core, the Central neighbourhood, the new West Harbour GO Station, Bayfront Park, and the North End neighbourhood.

The Ontario Ministry of Transportation is jointly funding the project, contributing $295,000 through the Ontario Municipal Cycling Infrastructure Program. This project is intended to incorporate three key elements:

  • The project is intended to be a demonstration project, incorporating various types of facilities, appropriate for the street context.
  • The project will incorporate extensive data collection, including SoBi ridership, to explore the impacts and benefits of the cycling facility.
  • The project will incorporate intersection treatments to facilitate connections to existing cycling infrastructure.

Bike lane design

The design of the bike lanes varies along the length of the project:

North of Cannon Street - Conventional bike lanes

Barton Street to Stuart Street without on-street parking

Image of bike lane design on Bay Street between Barton and Stuart

Cannon Street to Barton Street with on-street parking

Image of bike lane design on Bay Street between Cannon and Barton

South of Cannon Street - Two-way cycle track

Hunter Street to Cannon Street with a buffer and barrier

Image of bike lane design on Bay Street between Hunter to Cannon

Markland Street to Hunter Street with a painted buffer/line

Image of bike lane design on Bay Street between Markland to Hunter

Aberdeen Avenue to Markland Street with a contra-flow bike lane only

Image of bike lane design on Bay Street between Aberdeen to Markland

Traffic signal at Bay and King Street
The signal at Bay St and King St has been modified so pedestrians and cyclists will have a defined period to cross the intersection separate from left-turning motor vehicle traffic.  Left-turning motor vehicle traffic will not only yield to pedestrians and cyclists, but will have a defined separate “green arrow” phase.

One-way motor vehicle traffic with left turns
At intersections where one-way northbound motor vehicle traffic is permitted to make a left turn, the line separating the motor vehicle traffic and the bike lane becomes dashed. This dashed line directs motor vehicle traffic to merge with northbound bicycle traffic to be single file, before turning.  This merge prevents collisions between left-turning motorists and cyclists continuing straight through the intersection in the bike lane.

  • Motorists merge into the bike lane only after ensuring that they are not “cutting off” a cyclist.
  • Cyclists approaching the intersection further back, are reminded to yield to let motor traffic merge into the northbound bike lane to make their left-turn.
  • A similar design detail is standard where motor vehicle traffic makes a right-turn beside a conventional bike lane:

Photo of right hand turn traffic across a bike lane

Bay and Cannon Street Intersection
The Bay St/Cannon St intersection is designed to permit northbound cyclists to use the green bike box (on the northbound red phase for motor vehicle traffic) to cross to the east side of the street to continue northbound or eastbound.  Therefore cyclists riding northbound approaching Cannon St can make a left-turn onto Cannon St westbound OR a right-turn into the green bike box. Cyclists in the green bike box can then proceed north towards the Waterfront when the through signal is green.

Motorists driving northbound approaching Cannon St are reminded to:

  • Stop behind the green bike box when the traffic signal is red
  • Give the right-of-way to cyclists that are already in the green bike box
  • Yield the right-of way to opposing southbound right-turn traffic – whether it be motorists OR cyclists.

Detailed drawing of how traffic and cyclists manage the intersection of Bay and Cannon

*Note: Smaller green areas have been installed at various intersections to indicate locations specifically for bicycle turning maneuvers.

Public consultation

Information panels were presented at the open house on November 3, 2016:

Contact us

Daryl Bender
Project Manager of Alternative Transportation
Phone: 905-546-2424 Ext. 2066
Email: daryl.bender@hamilton.ca