October 25th, 2007
De Maisonneuve bike lane update
By Chris Erb // 7 Comments
Construction is coming along at a decent pace on the downtown bike lane along de Maisonneuve. La Press is reporting that it should be open by the end of the month but based on how much work is left to be done on the western portion, I have my doubts that a Hallowe'en bike ride on the new bike lane will be a reality.
The section behind The Bay building is of course still closed and the work that was completed is being ripped up as workers continue to make repairs on the collapsing tunnel beneath the street.
As you can see from the above photo, the city has opted to not dig up the road to pour concrete for the curb separating bikers from cars in the area around Concordia University. Instead, they have laid pre-fab cement blocks, half of which have metal polls with little rings on them. I am guessing a chain or rope of some sort will be strung along the polls, possibly as an attempt to quell jay walking. Indeed, many students cut across traffic in this area to get from one university building to another so this would be a good way to force them to go to the end of the block and use the traffic lights (especially since they would now be jaywalking across not just the street but also a busy bike lane).
Finally, Westmount doesn't seem to be in any hurry to finish their portion of the bike lane. No work has been done whatsoever to connect Montreal's finished portion at Atwater to Westmount's existing lane at Greene.
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I also was surprised by missing link to Greene. As of last week, the lane seems to end one third of the way between Atwater and Wood Avenues (directly opposite the main Dawson entrance). On first sight I had visions of terrified cyclists hurtling into the cars that are parked right where the lane ends... I certainly hope the municipalities can get it together and join the missing 2.5 blocks.
As for the Bethune square, are you sure about its renovation? I thought plans had been shelved, once again.
I was thinking that the more temporary blocks are probably to make it easier to go ahead with the "Quartier Concordia" plan which would explain why they also have the temporary blocks (minus the polls) between MacKay and Bishop as well.
Yeah... I'm not sure the Norman Bethune Square plans have been shelved, just delayed, because the whole Quartier Concordia initiative is still underway. It will eventually involve the widening and greening of sidewalks along Maisonneuve, which would displace the bike path.
They're temporary. The story I linked talks about temporary curbs in the Quartier des Spectacles that can be removed during festivals (I would quite like to see the lane open during festivals to create a "bike corridor" through the festival sites as getting around downtown on a bike during festival season can be cumbersome at best) which look exactly the same as the curbs being put up around Concordia. I've noticed that they've put them down along the JMSB building and it is very very wide. It won't be much of a bike lane however if all the construction vehicles don't get out of the way.
I still believe that this whole bike path project is one of the worst planned monstrosities in Montreal's history.
Jack >> explain why. I don't know the history, so its good to back up your reasons for us not in 'the know.'
That's strange, because the bike lane west of guy is identical to the portions further east. Maybe the city has opted for a more temporary approach between Mackay and Guy because that stretch of the bike lane will be dug up anyway for a renovated Norman Bethune Square.
Comment by Christopher DeWolf
October 25, 2007 | 11:43 pm