Dangerous detours during Grand Prix show lack of city oversight, says cycling group

Montreal announced another 58 kilometres of bike paths on the same day that cyclists were grappling with having their main artery through the city, the De Maisonneuvebike path, blocked forF1 parties.

Since late Thursday night, De Maisonneuve Boulevard around Crescent Street has been blocked off with security at the site telling cyclists they would need to go down to Ste-Catherine Street, or up to Sherbrooke Street,to get around.

Both streets don't have any bike pathsand by Fridaysome cyclists were being allowed to walk their bikes through the Grand Prix site, others weren't, and the city seemed unaware of what was happening.

Cycling advocates say this shows a lack of co-ordination between the city and the departments executing closures and construction.

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Dangerous detours

The city councillor responsible for bike safety,Marc-Andr Gadoury, announced additional bike paths and infrastructure to promote active transport in Montreal on Friday.

He said the city would have a total of 846 kilometres of bike paths by the end of 2018 and stressed safety in the design, like installing cycling boxes at intersections a feature that lets cyclists wait for a light in front of cars so they are clearly visible.

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Meanwhile, the paths in Montreal that are protected, like the east-west cycling corridor on De Maisonneuve Boulevard, continued to be laden with dangerous detours and blockages because of construction and events.

According to the Montreal Bike Coalition, a group working to promote urban cycling, thousands of taxpayers who commute by bike are being endangered because the pro-cycling culture at City Hall isn't trickling down to the departments blocking these paths.

"People get on the [De Maisonneuve] bike path because it's protected. You can't just send them down to another road where there's no protection,"spokesperson Daniel Lambert said.

He added that the De Maisonneuve path is used by about 8,000 cyclists daily.

City says no more blocks this summer

CBC asked the city why cyclists were being forced on dangerous detours around the Crescent Street and De Maisonneuve site but the city didn't address the block on Crescent Street, stating instead that bikes can be walked across Peel Street.

Nomie Brire-Marquez, speaking for Gadoury, also replied in an email that this is the only time the path would be blocked this summer.

"There seems to be, in our opinion, a disconnect between what the politicians and senior city officials are saying about cycling [and] when it gets down to the departments executing this," Lambert said.

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Lambert says the coalition is trying to convince the city to block Ste-Catherine Street for the parties next year, if any road needs to be completely blocked during Grand Prix weekend.