N.D.G. bike path plan comes under fire from all sides!
23 Jul 2019
The plan — voted by a majority of councillors at the June meeting of the Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough — calls for bicycle paths to be added to: Isabella Ave., across the highly congested Décarie expressway service road; Upper Lachine Rd. between Grand Blvd. and Décarie Blvd., and on Jean-Brillant St. between Decelles Ave. and Édouard-Montpetit Blvd.
It also calls for improvements to be made on two existing bike lanes — on Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Ave. and Grand Blvd. Those would become protected bicycle paths along the sidewalk, with a physical separation from cars. In the case of Grand Blvd., the path would be extended by a block to Côte-St-Luc Rd.
The council voted last month to ask the city for permission to study and implement the plan, and for it to be added to the 2020 citywide plan for bicycle infrastructure.
However, the plan goes “too far, too quickly,” said Snowdon-district councillor Marvin Rotrand, who voted against it, as according to him, it shows that the current Projet Montréal administration in the borough is willing to create havoc on the roads in order to appease a tiny percentage of the population that will actually be using the infrastructure.
“These bike paths are being created much more for ideological reasons, rather than for pragmatic reasons,” Rotrand said. “We have an administration that thinks owning a car is anti-social and they have to be punished, and that cyclists are superior human beings.”
Rotrand said he is particularly concerned about the plan for Isabella Ave., saying the borough is considering making that street one-way for eastbound traffic only from Macdonald Ave. to Décarie, and then one-way for westbound traffic on the other side of Décarie.
“This would oblige literally thousands of Snowdon residents to take long circuitous routes,” he said.
Rotrand added that the plan for Grand Blvd. appears to call for the elimination of dozens of parking spots, and would make it difficult and dangerous for public transit users to board the popular 103 bus, because they would likely have to cross over a bicycle path to get to their stop.
He said the current plan seems like it was drafted too quickly, with little thought of its impact. He denounced the fact that there was no public input before the plan was announced.
“There was no consultation, and no study done on the impact on traffic,” Rotrand said.
A group of cycling activists, however, was critical for other reasons, saying the borough’s plan lacks ambition.
“We’re barely putting three kilometres in here,” said Jason Savard, a spokesperson for the Association of Pedestrians and Cyclists of NDG. “It’s a very timid plan, if anything.”
Savard welcomed the idea of making it safer for cyclists to cross Décarie Blvd., but said he’s concerned that some of the new paths would amount to just paint on the street, when the best way to protect cyclists is to create physical barriers from motorists.
He said he’s disappointed major streets — like Terrebonne Ave. — were not included in the plan.
Speaking for borough mayor Sue Montgomey, chief of staff Annalisa Harris said the borough has asked the central city for permission to build the paths and conduct a consultation.
She said the public will be consulted, including business owners, but the timeline of any consultation will be determined only after the borough receives a response from the city.
Rotrand said the public should have been consulted before the plan was announced.
“You don’t vote the names of the streets you want to put bike lanes on and then tell people you’ll consult them,” Rotrand said. “It’s doing things backwards.”
