of driving to work, with all the benefits that brings for health, air quality and traffic congestion Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 34-Don Valley East), the moderate conservative councillor behind the project, says the city is planning to spend twice as much on its bike plans over four years as former mayor David Miller did in his final four. On top of 14 kilometres of separated lanes, the city would create 100 kilometres of off-street bike trails in ravines and rail or hydro corridors. After years of slow, stuttering progress on cycling infrastructure, that would be real progress. Great, say cycling advocates -- if it ever happens (they have understandable doubts given all the talk about the city's money troubles). But if you're going to build a bike network, they say, why start by killing bike lanes on Jarvis? The answer is simple: politics. The Jarvis lanes were a red flag to motorists from the start. Jarvis is one of the few broad streets taking car commuters in and out of downtown. Removing the roadway's reversing fifth lane to make room for bikes added minutes to that painful commute. Suburban councillors with car-commuting residents denounced the bike lanes. They were doomed from the moment Mayor Rob Ford took office on a pledge to end the "war on the car." Jarvis had to be sacrificed if the mayor and hostile councillors were ever going to back bike lanes elsewhere. It was an unspoken tradeoff: You can have your lost traffic lane on Jarvis