Province to begin removing stretch of Toronto bike lanes next week after court win

A car passes a cyclist on a major road in Toronto, on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young The Canadian Press Writer Oct 08, 2026, 5:04 PM Oct 08, 2026, 5:05 PM The province says work to remove bike lanes on a stretch of a major Toronto road will begin next week.

It comes after Ontario's top court overturned in August a ruling that blocked the government's bid to remove protected bike lanes along stretches of Bloor Street, Yonge Street and University Avenue in Toronto.

Dakota Brasier, a spokesperson for Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria, says work to restore vehicle lanes on Bloor Street West will begin on Tuesday.

A lower court last year stopped the province from replacing the protected bike lanes with car lanes, but the Ontario Court of Appeal found that judgment had effectively created a right to bike lanes where none existed.

The province has since been pressing ahead with its plan to overhaul the cycling network over the city's objections.

Last month it put out a bid request to study and design options to restore vehicle traffic on bike lane sections of the affected roads, and said the successful bidder will also be expected to look for ways to retain or reconfigure bike lanes, "where they make sense and do not make gridlock worse."