Montreal will allocate more than $17 million this year to develop and upgrade 35.8 kilometers of bike paths. In particular, the City will launch work to develop the first section of the Réseau express vélo (REV) on boulevard Henri-Bourassa.
This year, the City is betting on the concept of territorial equity in order to improve cycling infrastructure in outlying neighborhoods and to encourage cycling. The plan unveiled Thursday thus includes 41 projects spread over 17 boroughs and related cities on the island of Montreal. “Bicycling has developed a lot from the center of the city. The first tracks were along the orange line [de métro]. But at some point, you have to get out of the central districts, ”said councilor Marianne Giguère, responsible for active transport on the executive committee.
A first section of the REV on Henri-Bourassa will be completed in the borough of Saint-Laurent, between Pitfield and Félix-Leclerc streets. Eventually, this REV will join, to the east, boulevard Lacordaire, in Montreal North. The City will take advantage of the underground infrastructure work carried out in the coming years on this artery to develop the bike path and green its surroundings.
In Ville-Marie, another REV, the one that follows the axis of avenue Viger and rue Saint-Antoine and rue Saint-Jacques will be extended. A bike path will also be built on rue De Champlain, between rue Sherbrooke Est and rue La Fontaine. In the west of the island, the Grenier trail, located in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, will be extended to allow cyclists to travel between four major parks: the Bois-de-Saraguay nature parks, Bois-de-Liesse and Anse-à-l’Orme as well as the Grand Parc de l’Ouest.
Montreal will also conduct a pilot project with the Sustainable Mobility Agency to carry out more sustained surveillance of the REV Saint-Denis and crack down on owners of vehicles who park on bike paths. Previously, the police could issue tickets to offenders, but as part of this pilot project, it will now be possible for the Agency to carry out towings. “They are going to be more intransigent for temporary shutdowns. The Agency will have a team dedicated to this work – on bicycles in some cases – to do surveillance and awareness, “says Ms.me Giguere. “At the end of this pilot project, we want to extend this measure to the entire network because temporary stops in cycling facilities are really a scourge and it puts cyclists in danger. You have to break this impression that it’s okay to stop, even for five minutes, and block the track. »