On a popular Toronto bike route riddled with potholes and often congested with traffic, a bright-orange detour sign erected Monday morning seemed proof that things must get worse before they get better.

After years of delay, city officials took a major step forward on an ambitious project to revitalize Queens Quay, by closing the 1.5-kilometre stretch from Bay St. to Spadina Ave. to all eastbound traffic — a closure expected to last at least two years.

It’s a necessary move, said Chris Glaisek, Waterfront Toronto’s vice president of planning and design, a short-term inconvenience that will ultimately see the beleaguered waterfront transformed into a vibrant promenade as two traffic lanes are removed to make way for wider, tree-lined pedestrian walkways and a separated bike lane.

“(It’s) largely about making the street better for cyclists and pedestrians,” said Glaisek. “The reason we’re doing it is to create a good bike facility where absolutely none exists now.”

But on Monday, the traffic blockade was a headache nonetheless as two-wheeled commuters and recreational cyclists alike saw their waterfront jaunts interrupted by a concrete barrier and detour signs redirecting them to a path that runs beneath the Gardiner Expressway.

“It’s a pain,” said Kat Webber, 24, an actress en route to her Queens Quay apartment who, like many others, decided instead to hop onto the sidewalk with her bike and continue along the waterfront route as planned.

According to Glaisek, the City of Toronto recently cleaned up the detour path to prepare for an influx of cyclists during construction. The path, part of the Martin Goodman Trail, runs beneath the Gardiner from Spadina to York St. Cyclists going farther east must then dismount and walk about 100 metres to Bay St., where Queens Quay reopens to eastbound traffic.

“It’s certainly an inconvenience,” said Glaisek, “but there’s no way to rebuild the street without rebuilding the street.”

The concrete blockade was met with a mixture of frustration and ambivalence as some cyclists, including University of Toronto student Anna Almero, 22, ventured northward following the detour signs or — like Webber — plowed on down the sidewalk.

But cyclists be warned: According to Const. Hugh Smith of Toronto Police Traffic Services, cycling on the sidewalk is not only against the law, it’s also dangerous to pedestrians. City data shows that sidewalk cycling is a contributing factor in 30 per cent of car and bike collisions.

“We can’t have people creating their own highway or roadway on the sidewalk just because they’re inconvenienced because somebody changed the route,” Smith said.

Cyclists caught riding on the sidewalk in the Queens Quay area could be slapped with an $85 fine.