Montreal reviews Berri Street bike path plan amid safety concerns
The city is redesigning a key cycling corridor to avoid placing the bike path directly in front of the bus terminal entrance, but cycling advocates worry the changes could compromise rider safety.
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Montreal is revisiting the design of the future Berri Street bike path before construction is complete, saying the original plan no longer reflects the city's vision for one of the busiest corridors into the Quartier latin.
The review comes as major infrastructure work continues along Berri Street around Berri-UQAM station. The mayor's office said the redesign extends beyond safety concerns and includes looking at options that meet Montreal's Express Bike Network standards while avoiding placing the bike path directly in front of the bus terminal entrance.
"The goal is to avoid having to rely on a long list of mitigation measures, like excessive signage and other safety features, to reduce the risk of collisions," the office said in a statement.
But cycling advocates say the proposed changes raise concerns. Jean-François Rheault, chief executive officer of Vélo Québec, said the organization supports creating a more attractive streetscape, but not at the expense of rider safety. "When the administration expressed the desire to make something magnificent and something beautiful, that's great news. We just wanna make sure that cyclist safety is not put aside as a second level priority," Rheault said.
Rheault pointed out that the previous administration's plan for one-way bike paths would have provided better protection at intersections than a two-way path on one side of the street. "The previous administration has chosen unidirectional bike paths that are much easier to secure at intersections. Coming back to a bidirectional bike path two ways on the same side of the street makes it much more complicated to secure," he said.
The opposition councillor for Ville-Marie noted the corridor is used by about 10,000 cyclists each day. Christopher McCray, with Projet Montréal, cited the danger: "Intersections are dangerous, hundreds of collisions, cyclists and pedestrians, sometimes severely injured, and a cyclist was killed in 2021 at the corner of Berri and Ontario."
