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Some residents in Scarborough are questioning the city’s decision to reconstruct Scarborough Golf Club Road to include separated cycle tracks, particularly as bike lanes in the downtown core are removed.
May 2023, city council approved the installation of new cycling facilities between Ellesmere Road and Lawrence Avenue East. The $13 million reconstructed roadway, separated cycle tracks, and protected intersections were completed September 2026.
Some residents, like Toni Jean-Pierre, question whether reducing vehicle capacity makes sense in an area where cycling represents a relatively small share of daily commuting. Jean-Pierre is a driver who frequently used Scarborough Golf Club Road before the changes.
“I used it pretty frequently right up until the bike lanes were put in because traffic had slowed down so much there that I’d had to detour onto Markham,” Jean-Pierre said.
Jean-Pierre said the changes came as a surprise—he initially mistook the bike lanes for a temporary consequence of construction.
“Once [the construction] had cleared up and I thought that I could proceed using that route again, it had become blocked completely,” Jean-Pierre said.
In an email statement, the councillor for Scarborough-Guildwood, Paul Ainslie, also raised concerns about the redesign.
“The reconstruction was to be a balance for all users: vehicles, public transit, public utilities: waste management, emergency services, cyclists and pedestrians. The new construction did not create a balanced use,” Ainslie said.
According to Ainslie, Scarborough Golf Club Road was already due for major reconstruction, including the replacement of a 66-year-old watermain that had reached the end of its service life, according to the City of Toronto.
“With all road reconstruction bike lanes are considered,” Ainslie said.
Ainslie said The bike lanes for Scarborough Golf Club Road were designed to connect existing, otherwise disconnected routes, including bike lanes on Brimorton Drive, the Ellesmere multi-use trail and the Gatineau Hydro Corridor at The Meadoway.
However, for drivers like Jean-Pierre, the redesign has changed how they navigate the neighbourhood, raising questions about how the city weighs the needs of motorists against those of cyclists and pedestrians.
A 2025 cycling survey found that 66 per cent of respondents live in households where someone over the age of 15 rides a bicycle. The survey, led by the University of Toronto and Climate Action partnership for the city, also reported that nearly half said they ride a bike at least once a week in good weather.
Central areas in downtown see bicycles used prominently for commuting, shopping or running errands, whereas city consultation data has found that cycling for recreation is more common in Scarborough.
The final design for the reconstruction includes protected cycle tracks, protected intersections, wider sidewalks, accessible transit stops, raised crossings and a lower posted speed limit of 40 km/h.
Daisy Gammon is a fourth-year journalism student and story teller for <i>On The Record</i>, Fall 2026