With a council vote to determine whether the Bloor St. bike lanes will be made permanent looming in the fall, local residents have expressed strong support for the high-profile cycling project.

Ahead of a public meeting Monday evening the Star was given an exclusive advance look at survey results and a technical update about the lanes prepared by city transportation staff.

The survey results show that 75 per cent of people who live in the project area either agree or strongly agree that the lanes make Bloor safer for cyclists and that the trade-offs of increased traffic congestion and loss of parking are “acceptable.”

The presentation also reveals that the city has increased the duration of east-west green lights at nine intersections by between 10 and 16 per cent in order to improve traffic flow. Data previously released by the city determined that the bike lanes had increased car travel time on Bloor by as much as 8 minutes and 25 seconds.

Local Councillor Joe Cressy (Ward 20 Trinity-Spadina) said the survey results show that the bike lanes’ neighbours clearly want the project to stay.

“It’s a significant statement because usually change is the hardest for people near to it,” said Cressy. “You can’t put a speed bump on a street without people having really passionate opinions about it. And in this case, it’s those who are most immediately affected (who) support it the most.”

The survey was filled out by more than 14,000 people, more than 3,800 of whom live near the project. The lanes run between Shaw St. and Avenue Rd.

The city released interim results of the survey in February. Many of the numbers have not changed much since then.

The 140 local business owners surveyed remain split, with 52 per cent replying that the benefits of the bike lanes were outweighed by the drawbacks, and 44 per cent saying the trade-offs were acceptable.

Drivers who never cycle on Bloor were the most opposed to the lane, with 57 per cent saying they disagreed or strongly disagreed that the trade-offs were acceptable.

The more than 10,000 respondents who said they ride on Bloor loved the new lanes, with 85 per cent replying that the bikeway makes them feel safe or very safe. More than 75 per cent of cyclists said they ride more because of the lanes.

Data collected last fall found that the bike lanes, which were installed in August, had increased the number of cyclists on Bloor from 3,300 per day to 4,500 per day, or 36 per cent. As motorist congestion increased however, car volumes dropped 22 per cent, to 20,000 per day.

Since then the city has made several modifications to reduce gridlock and address the concerns of local businesses and residents. They include the longer green lights, converting about nine on-street parking spaces on side streets to loading zones, and implementing turning restrictions to prevent drivers from infiltrating adjacent residential streets.

Jacquelyn Hayward Gulati, the city’s acting director of transportation infrastructure management, said that the modifications should significantly reduce travel times for drivers.

“We’re hoping to see improvements,” she said. “We’d like to see those travel times come down closer to where they were before the pilot.”

The city will collect new traffic data this month, and report back to council in the fall with a final report about whether the lanes should be made permanent, modified, or removed.

Council approved the pilot project in May 2016 in a vote of 38 to 3.

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It easily passed in part because of Mayor John Tory’s support, but he stated at the time that he wanted the lanes to be “measured rigorously” and that the data collected over the year would determine whether he would back making the pilot permanent.

“If the measurements show overall, taken overall as a whole, this was bad for neighbourhoods, bad for business… then I will be advocating that it be taken out. And again, I see that as no big deal,” he said.