Toronto’s Transforming The Woodbine Beach Area Into One Massive Sidewalk This Weekend

Watch out for the foxes! Toronto's popular Woodbine Beach area is closing to traffic this weekend as part of an initiative to promote pedestrian and bike access. It comes in time for another sunny weekend.

The 6ix's ActiveTO program was launched earlier this month in a bid to give the city's residents more space to get out and about while maintaining safe physical distancing.

As of last weekend, several major roads running near popular outdoor spaces and attractions were closed in a bid to limit vehicular access.

Now, the City has unveiled the latest closures that will come into effect this weekend, and the most notable area is around Woodbine Beach.

Lake Shore Boulevard East will be closed from Coxwell Avenue to Woodbine Avenue at Kew Beach Avenue, a stretch that runs along the Beach.

No cars will be permitted between 6 a.m. on Saturday and 11 p.m. in Sunday, so it runs for the entire weekend.

That means that while vehicles won't be allowed on that stretch, pedestrian traffic is being encouraged.

So it seems fair to suggest you can expect Woodbine Beach to become something of a huge sidewalk ahead of another warm weekend.

Temperatures are expected to hit the mid-20s C on both Saturday and Sunday.

This weekend's other major road closures are Lake Shore Blvd. West from Windermere Avenue to Stadium Road and Bayview Avenue from Mill Street to Rosedale Valley Road.

The ActiveTO program is part of Toronto's shifted advice relating to COVID-19.

Earlier this month, staff acknowledged they were no longer urging residents to stay inside, but were instead encouraging people to practice safe and sensible distancing when they do go outside.

As Mayor John Tory noted, that's in no small part due to the fact that it's going to be virtually impossible to keep people inside as the weather gets better and summer approaches.

The Woodbine Beach area potentially being crowded with pedestrians throws up its own problematic subplot, though.

By now, you must have heard about the family of foxes which has emerged in the area in recent weeks with fewer humans around.

Not only have the animals already had to be fenced off numerous times to protect them from the public, but bylaw officers have been patrolling at night as some people have been seeking out the foxes at night.

Given that the area could become pretty crowded this weekend, the City may want to brush up on its fox protection measures.

*This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.