The city has a plan to swerve Doug Ford’s bike lane ban

Last month, the province passed yet another piece of legislation aimed at stamping out the supposedly intolerable scourge that is bike lanes. Like Bill 212 before it, Bill 60 prohibits the installation of any new cycling infrastructure that replaces lanes currently reserved for cars.

In the ongoing battle against two-wheeled transit, the move has been described as the province “doubling down” on its anti-bike lane agenda. Now, the city has come up with a clever workaround that will be reviewed by Toronto’s infrastructure and environment committee on Thursday.

Related: How the Bloor Street bike lane turned the city into a battlefield

The plan, which was put forward in a staff report, proposes the installation of more than 20 kilometres of new bike lanes (to the tune of more than $30 million). The lanes would include stretches along Keele between Steeles and Finch and on Kingston Road between Cliffside Drive and Scarborough Golf Club Road.

Maybe you’re wondering, How can they do that without openly defying the province’s recent crackdown? Well, rather than replacing car lanes—which both provincial bills prohibit—the new lanes would be formed by narrowing existing lanes and using space currently reserved for parking.

Related: A pedestrian was hit by a car on Parkside Drive last night

Mayor Olivia Chow is a big supporter of the plan, calling it a rare “win-win” in the war between two- and four-wheeled traffic in this city. She denied the idea that cycling-sympathetic councillors had found a legislative loophole to exploit. “We keep the car lanes. We put the bike lanes in. Everybody’s happy,” Chow told the media on Monday.

It’s not yet clear whether “everybody” includes Doug “bah humbug to bike lanes” Ford. Ontario’s transportation minister, Prabmeet Sarkaria, has offered his tacit support, saying, “If the vehicle lane is still there, that is in compliance with the legislation.” But, given the premier’s promise to get rid of bike lanes “one way or another,” it’s hard to imagine he’s going to let this go without at least a little grandstanding.

For those keeping score: the province will be in court next month to appeal Cycle Toronto’s successful Charter challenge that put the brakes on Ford’s plans to rip up the bike lanes on Bloor, Yonge and University. A judge has ruled that removing those lanes would violate cyclists’ right to life, liberty and security of person.