Former Toronto Mayor David Crombie is urging city councillors to vote for a remake of North Yonge St. that includes bike lanes on the famous thoroughfare.

Crombie, dubbed the “tiny perfect mayor” when he led pre-amalgamation Toronto in the 1970s, was among speakers at a news conference at city hall Monday in support of a plan for Yonge between Sheppard and Finch Aves. endorsed by city staff and the local councillor but opposed by Mayor John Tory.

“We now have a historic opportunity to determine whether or not that part of Yonge St. is going to be the main street, a new downtown where people can live and work and play, or it's simply going to continue to be a six-lane highway that allows people to drive their cars through,” Crombie said.

Later Monday safety advocates, many of them friends and family members of people killed by motorists, staged a “die-in” at Nathan Phillips Square to support the plan and highlight the perils of busy unrestricted traffic. There were 78 collisions involving pedestrians and five involving cyclists on that stretch of Yonge between 2010 and 2017. Eight of them were killed or seriously injured.

Council on Tuesday will debate the “Transform Yonge” plan that would reduce six lanes of vehicle traffic to four, install protected bike lanes, widen sidewalks and add benches, new pedestrian crossings and other features aimed to make the condo-lined street a walkable destination.

Tory and some council allies are backing another plan that would leave all vehicle lanes in place, install bike lanes on nearby Beecroft Rd. and enliven the streetscape on sidewalks widened where possible. City staff said putting bike lanes on Beecroft would add $20 million to the project’s $51.1 million cost but Councillor David Shiner says it can be done for an extra $9 million.

Last week Don Peat, Tory’s spokesperson, said: “The mayor has been clear that he supports putting bike lanes on Beecroft while still moving ahead with updating and improving the public realm on Yonge St.

“City staff have made it clear this is also a viable option and as we heard at the Public Works Committee — which recommended the Beecroft option — the additional cost is much less than originally estimated.”

Asked if he has made his case directly to Tory, Crombie said he broached the subject at a gathering and “I have been in direct contact with his office and they have not responded.”

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