Blog  November 30, 2011

First out of the gate and up Pottery Road

New bike sharrows on Pottery Road (Photo: Melissa Yu)

What’s cooler than being the first up the newly refurbished Pottery Road? Being the first up in an electric vehicle!

Back in May when the road was first closed, a number of Evergreen colleagues made a pact to go into history as the first group to drive up the rejuvenated road in an electric vehicle, in celebration of getting our main road connection out of the Don Valley back in business.

The weather then was promisingly warm and Autoshare had just plugged a Nissan Leaf and a Chevy Volt into the Better Place charging stations at Evergreen Brick Works. The car lease company had asked us to test out the car and the processes for borrowing it and plugging it in. Twist our rubber arms: the idea of a mini-road trip up to Dairy Queen was born.

Questions about slope stability delayed its opening for a number months, but when Pottery Road finally opened to vehicular travel, we were the first in line as the barriers were lifted—just like Matt Galloway at the famous tweeting pop-up taco stand. Mimicking Ayrton Senna out of the blocks when given the green light, we slowed down to a Mr. Magoo pace to take in the improvements.

At first blush, it looks nice. The lanes are narrower to make more room for bikers and pedestrians behind a jersey barrier, as well as shared lane markings for cyclists and motorists coming down the hill from Broadview Ave. (Bikers who have been using Pottery Road while it has been under construction will lament that they will again have to share the road.) There are a few strange features too, like the sidewalk abruptly ending at the Bayview-Pottery Rd intersection on the south side, but for the most part it is an improvement.

Below is a photo essay of the experience. And if you need to ask what we ordered on this snowy day? A blizzard of course!