The newly painted bicycle lanes that appeared on Eastern Avenue two weeks ago could be just the beginning of a growth spurt for south Riverdale and Leslieville's expanding bicycle network, if Ward 30 (Toronto-Danforth) Councillor Paula Fletcher gets her way.

Fletcher, who championed the bike lanes that have narrowed Eastern from four lanes to two west of Leslie Street, said she's working on having bike-only lanes painted the length of Commissioners Street, and after that run lanes along Carlaw Avenue from Commissioners to possibly as far north as Dundas Street East.

And while the new lanes on Eastern may irk some motorists in a ward with an above-average density of bike lanes as it stands, Fletcher isn't apologetic.

"There's lots of bike lanes now - you can go down Jones, you can go down Greenwood, you have lots of ways to travel by bike," Fletcher said. "I think it would be great if far more wards have the same kilometres of bike lanes but if no, I'll take them."

Fletcher said the plans over the next year or two are to connect the bike lanes that criss-cross the ward north of Lake Shore Boulevard with a more robust network south of Lake Shore.

To that end, she's looking at running a new north-south route on Carlaw Avenue to connect it both to Eastern and, if road-widths allow, to the Dundas Street East bicycle lanes.

Whether those new lanes go in, however, will depend on how they fit in with the city's overall bike plan.

Cycling Committee Chair Adrian Heaps (Ward 35, Scarborough Southwest) said Commissioners will likely have to take a back seat to more immediate plans to create a long Bloor Street bike lane.

"Bloor Street takes far greater priority than Commissioners does. ... Right now a bike lane on Commissioners would be like going through a ghost town," Heaps said. "If and when the Gardiner comes down and the Leslieville area to the south takes on some development you'll see all kinds of things. It wouldn't be my choice, with Lake Shore Boulevard, Dundas Street and Eastern Avenue, we have sufficient east-west routes."