Recently it has been brought to my attention that the city of Montreal is planning to install a bike path on Cote Ste Catherine. This certainly comes as news to me, as I actually live on Cote Ste Catherine!

The bike path that the city intends to create on Cote Ste Catherine will be dangerous to cyclists, drivers and pedestrians. While the idea of creating a bike path on Cote Ste Catherine may have some merit, and will certainly have supporters, the city must adjust it’s plan for the path, to make the path more useful for cyclists while allowing the street to be friendly to cars and pedestrians as well.

As it stands, Cote Ste Catherine has 4 lanes of car traffic (2 in either direction), plus 2 lanes for parking (1 on either direction).  The city is planning to remove both lanes of parking in order to make space for the bike path as well as install a large concrete divider separating the path from the road. On the north side of the street, parking will only be permitted at off rush hour times. On the south side of the street the parking will be completely removed. Cars traveling eastbound will in effect be driving right up against the bike path, while cars, buses and trucks traveling westbound will be driving within inches of pedestrians on the sidewalk. This is a ridiculous plan.

As with the carelessly constructed de Maisonneuve bike path, the wide concrete divider will be a complete waste of resources. The city contends that this divider is however needed so that the cyclists on the path have enough clearance from the side mirros of vehicles traveling beside them.

However, on the other side of the bike path, pedestrians will have cars zooming within inches of their bodies. Since Cote Ste Catherine also has bus service, the pedestrians on the sidewalk will also face the dangerous and now famously deadly side view mirrors on the STM buses. The killer bus mirrors will come within inches of pedestrians walking on the sidewalk, and will make the sidewalk all but unusable.

The concept for this bike path was not thought out properly, and together we must force the city to adjust its design.