Lines painted on some Scarborough streets may make them more dangerous for cyclists, members of the cycling community say.

The City of Toronto resurfaced part of Danforth Road last summer, and it started removing channelized right-turn lanes from four intersections.

Though still unfinished, the project was praised for improving pedestrian safety.

Danforth, however, was resurfaced with lines cyclists say may appear to create new bicycle lanes, but actually don’t.

Drivers and cyclists alike are confused by the lines, which don’t mark spaces as wide as standard bicycle lanes and sometimes end without warning, said Jonathan Schmidt, a member of Toronto East Cyclists.

Schmidt, who wrote a newsletter post this month for the group called “These are not bike lanes!”, commutes downtown from Danforth and Birchmount roads, and said he felt a bit safer around drivers on Danforth before the lines appeared.

“They were giving me more room than they are now,” he said.

Though he has mixed feelings, since the lines between St. Clair and Warden avenues do slow traffic by appearing to narrow the road, Schmidt — who has noticed similar lines along Birchmount north of Eglinton Avenue — said he’s disappointed the city, in trying to control speeds, chose the least expensive option.

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Widening Danforth just a few inches would give the city room for real bicycle lanes, he said.

Cyclists in Toronto have the right to use the traffic lane if they don’t feel safe along the curb.

Schmidt said most drivers will accommodate cyclists this way, but one out of every 20 or 30 refuse.

Looking at the lines on Danforth now, Schmidt said, cyclists will think, “If I go in there, cars are going to be too close to me.”

Hakeem Muhammad, a spokesperson for the city, said the markings, called “edge lines,” are not cycling infrastructure.

They are indeed meant to reduce speeding, while also providing “interim space for snow and debris during road maintenance,” he said this week.

“Edge lines are not necessarily a precursor to the installation of bike lanes,” Muhammad said, adding traffic rules — including the right to take a lane if a cyclist feels the road is too narrow for side-by-side travel — still apply on such roadways.

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Marvin Macaraig, co-ordinator of the Toronto Centre for Active Transportation’s Scarborough Cycles project, said the city would get better results by creating “complete streets,” suited for cyclists, drivers and pedestrians, rather than simply add lines along curbs.

Installation of real bike lanes in Scarborough, meanwhile, remains slow.

Plans called for fully separated bike lanes over Highway 401 on Conlins Road to be completed in 2019, but they weren’t, “which is really sad,” Macaraig said.