Montreal is investing a lot of money to revamp many of its streets by widening sidewalks at intersections and other traffic calming measures such as speed bumps on residential streets.
As I was riding along the Lakeshore out to St. Anne de Bellevue, I was passed by several STM buses. The speed limit on this road is 30 km/hr and there are signs telling drivers to get onto the highway if they are in a hurry.
Now, I wasn't doing 30 km/hr; more like 20. But then most of the buses seemed to be moving at well in excess of the speed limit.
A thought occurred to me; if every bus in the city drove at or under the speed limit all the time it would 'calm' the traffic throughout the city without costing a single nickel to citizens.
Wednesday 12 June 2013
Tuesday 11 June 2013
West Island Ride
From the Plateau, a ride out to the West Island and St. Anne de Bellevue is somewhat longer than out to the east point. Depending on my mood, I will do it clock-wise or counter-clockwise.
Yesterday, I decided to go out along the Lachine Canal and the Lakeshore because I thought I might just turn around and backtrack instead of continuing past Senneville and Boulevard Gouin.
In the end, I decided to carry-on but chose to try a different route that cuts through the middle of suburbia via Chemin de l'Anse-a-l'Orme.
Nothing special about the path following the chemin; a marked shoulder section on a road designed for cars to head for the highway. To connect up with the path to take me through Kirkland, I just turned left at the first street I came to as shown on the map above. Not surprisingly, there was no sign on l'Anse-a-l'Orme to direct cyclists to turn.
The path through Kirkland is a very nice paved path leading through a hydro right-of-way almost up the Boulevard St. Charles. It then just stops in a mall parking lot and you have to make your way through the parking lots on both sides of St. Charles before picking up the path again.
This was not too much trouble, especially when compared to the design of the path further east at the intersection of Salaberry and Boulevard des Sources.
Here, the path stops for an entire block before des Sources and cyclists are expected to walk their bikes along the block and then across des Sources before picking up the path again. The only problem is that the lights at des Sources do not allow for pedestrian crossing on the north side of the intersection. There are no painted lines, no pedestrian lights and the traffic lights are set up for traffic to turn left throughout the green.
In the end, I had to cross to the south to cross the intersection. Once across des Sources, I was so pissed at the whole situation I just kept biking along the road.
It is beyond all logic that all this effort has been put to create cycling infrastructure except for the most critical spot with the highest risk due to volume of traffic.
It is a shame because I would certainly chose this bike path over Boulevard Gouin as it leads directly Parc nature du Bois-de-Liesse as its east end.
Yesterday, I decided to go out along the Lachine Canal and the Lakeshore because I thought I might just turn around and backtrack instead of continuing past Senneville and Boulevard Gouin.
In the end, I decided to carry-on but chose to try a different route that cuts through the middle of suburbia via Chemin de l'Anse-a-l'Orme.
Nothing special about the path following the chemin; a marked shoulder section on a road designed for cars to head for the highway. To connect up with the path to take me through Kirkland, I just turned left at the first street I came to as shown on the map above. Not surprisingly, there was no sign on l'Anse-a-l'Orme to direct cyclists to turn.
The path through Kirkland is a very nice paved path leading through a hydro right-of-way almost up the Boulevard St. Charles. It then just stops in a mall parking lot and you have to make your way through the parking lots on both sides of St. Charles before picking up the path again.
This was not too much trouble, especially when compared to the design of the path further east at the intersection of Salaberry and Boulevard des Sources.
Here, the path stops for an entire block before des Sources and cyclists are expected to walk their bikes along the block and then across des Sources before picking up the path again. The only problem is that the lights at des Sources do not allow for pedestrian crossing on the north side of the intersection. There are no painted lines, no pedestrian lights and the traffic lights are set up for traffic to turn left throughout the green.
In the end, I had to cross to the south to cross the intersection. Once across des Sources, I was so pissed at the whole situation I just kept biking along the road.
It is beyond all logic that all this effort has been put to create cycling infrastructure except for the most critical spot with the highest risk due to volume of traffic.
It is a shame because I would certainly chose this bike path over Boulevard Gouin as it leads directly Parc nature du Bois-de-Liesse as its east end.
Fave Ride to the east
I often ride out to the east end of the island of Montreal following the south shore and then coming back on Boulevard Gouin, but my favourite part is the zen-like ride through the Parc-nature de la Pointe-aux-Prairies.
Even though it is a gravel path, the surface beats the majority of the supposedly paved 'path' on Boulevard Gouin.
Even though it is a gravel path, the surface beats the majority of the supposedly paved 'path' on Boulevard Gouin.
Monday 3 June 2013
Tour de l'ile
I was not going to do the Tour de l'ile de Montreal this year, but changed my mind at the last minute.
Even though it started in pouring rain, the atmosphere is so positive that I did not regret the decision. Within the hour, the sun was out and it was extremely pleasant as we stopped at the 2nd rest area in Lasalle.
Perhaps the raison d'etre for the tour might be diminished now that cycling has become integrated into the transportation fabric of the city, but it is still an energizing experience to the full access to the road without the worry of avoiding cars and trucks all the time.
Long live the tour!
Even though it started in pouring rain, the atmosphere is so positive that I did not regret the decision. Within the hour, the sun was out and it was extremely pleasant as we stopped at the 2nd rest area in Lasalle.
Perhaps the raison d'etre for the tour might be diminished now that cycling has become integrated into the transportation fabric of the city, but it is still an energizing experience to the full access to the road without the worry of avoiding cars and trucks all the time.
Long live the tour!
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