Just like I remember.Redesign plans are short-sighted, safety advocates say

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Pedestrian and cyclist safety advocates say a project to rebuild the main intersection leading to Mount Royal will do little to improve safety for the most vulnerable road users.

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After a 2018 cyclist’s death in the mountains, a pilot project to shut down traffic, and after extensive public hearings, the city announced a four-year, $52 million, four-year effort to dismantle and rebuild the Remembrance Road intersection. I’m in the middle of a dollar project. It is located on the Cote des Neiges street. — One of the two main entrances to Mount Royal Park. Rebuild the 300m Remembrance Road. The project, which began last year, goes against recommendations from the city’s Public Advisory Office to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists in the area, critics say.

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Instead, the city says it’s replicating a problematic road design that forces cars and cyclists to share the narrow two-lane road leading to Beaver Lake and Smith House.

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At this stage, there is a temporary road on Remembrance Road, but there are no protected bike lanes and no lanes for city buses to pick up and drop off passengers off the main road. Increases frustration for motorists and cyclists.

“It’s designed so that no one rides a bike there, but it’s not,” said Jean-François Rheault, president and executive director of cycling lobby group Vélo Québec.

He said the city was missing a golden opportunity to create more safe spaces on routes popular with endurance cyclists. With his scheduled completion date of mid-2024, the Côte d’Abbesses flyover will be demolished and replaced by his T-shaped intersection at ground level, similar to the intersection on the southeastern flank of the mountain between Parc-Abbesses and Pine-Abbesses. increase. There is no dedicated space for cyclists, but the narrow, winding gravel road adjacent to the roadway is shared with people walking through the park. Such trails would not be used by most endurance cyclists who use the mountain for steep uphill training, who prefer a straight, paved surface.

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The nonprofits that care for the mountain share the same concerns about sharing Remembrance Road.

Hélène Panayioti, Executive Director of Les Amis de la montagne, said: “I hope it doesn’t cost us our lives to come to the conclusion that we might have had to think of these things differently. It doesn’t seem to be addressed at this time.”

Both said they were frustrated that the project seemed to conflict with the city’s goal of improving the safety of the main motorway along Mount Royal.

Montreal’s mayor Valerie Plante came to power in 2017, pledging to improve road safety just weeks after 18-year-old elite cyclist Clement Ouimet died while making a U-turn on Camillian Howd Way. I went to Mr. Ouimet was driving down a mountain road when he was hit by a car parked in his blind corner. A few months into his first term, Plante blocked traffic on Remembrance Road and its continuation Camillien Howdway in a pilot project in 2018. A large public consultation has revealed that Montrealers don’t want to close to car traffic and want to see Remembrance Road. Camillien-Houde Way then turns into a slow-moving, tree-lined scenic drive.

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But little has changed since that time.

Critics say the city appears reluctant to limit transit vehicles, which make up the majority of the 10,000 vehicles that cross the mountain. Redesigning a major intersection only happens once every 40 or 50 years, so bike lobbyists and advocates for safer walking spaces fear that this project will make the mountain a sub-optimal road design for decades to come. I am afraid that I will be doomed to

“As currently designed, intersections reduce the chances of having a suitable solution across the mountain. I think the city should reconsider and widen the roads,” Law said.

On behalf of the city, Sophie Moserol, member of the executive committee responsible for mobility, said the advanced condition of the overpass means the city must act quickly to redesign the area. , said it meant there was not enough time to reconfigure the lanes to improve sharing. road users.

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“This project had been started before and it was really urgent to intervene in this sector,” said Mauzerolle.

She said the city will soon outline a vision of how cyclists, cars and pedestrians will share the mountain, but did not specify when such a vision would be presented to the public.

“We are working with our team to honor the recommendations of the City of Montreal Public Counsel and reconfigure the entirety of Mount Royal,” she told the Montreal Gazette last week.

She said the city will be able to revisit Remembrance Road. After making such a decision, change the configuration.

With Rheault refusing to accept the city’s claims and Remembrance Rd. being completely rebuilt, this is the perfect time to introduce a bold new street design.

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“This is a complete redesign,” says Rheault. “It’s a great opportunity to build something that has a vision of cycling as a sport. We started from scratch, so we had space for everything, but we ignored certain design criteria and left very little space for the bike.” , decided to minimize the space in the driveway.It was a lack of clear vision and planning, and we told them many times over the last year that it was going to cause problems.”

To make matters worse, the city did not respond to requests from Les Amis de la montagne for additional parking for city buses that pick up and drop off passengers near Beaver Lake. .

“The bus stop is less than 50 meters away from the traffic light, because when the bus arrives at Remembrance Rd. during peak hours, there is already a bottleneck and it is dangerous for everyone,” Panaioti explained. “Having[parking spaces]for buses is not best practice for STM, but can be seen as a way to avoid potential accidents for cars, pedestrians and cyclists. There may be valid reasons not to do so.”

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Panaioti said he was also concerned that the trail the city is building at that intersection, like most of the Olmsted trails that pass through wooded areas of the mountain, is not clearly marked. .

“We are also concerned about the potential for collisions between cyclists and pedestrians, as it is not clear whether the pedestrian walkways will be restricted to pedestrian use. Collisions can occur between pedestrians and cyclists, as stated at the time.”

The group all say they are concerned that the city is not heeding their demands, which bodes badly for the redesign of the entire road network around the Aorta, which the city plans to implement in the coming months. Within this mandate, which is the project to outline and begin construction.

jmagder@postmedia.com

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