Moncton city council flip-flops on Mountain Road bike lanes

Moncton city councillors voted Monday to keep bike lanes and a new centre lane on Mountain Road, reversing a decision made last week to undo the changes and restore four lanes of traffic.

Six weeks ago,one lane on Mountain Road wasremoved between BulmanDrive and Front Mountain Road,and bike lanes were installed.

The changes gavecyclists the outer edges of the road, and drivers in both directions got to share a centre lane for making left-hand turns.

Avid cyclist Mark Leblanc attended Monday's meeting in his cycling gearand helmet to show support for bike lanes throughout the city and his displeasure at council's decision last week to remove the bike lanes just five weeks after their installation.

"There wasn't any evidence at all," he said.

Coun.Bryan Butler had argued for returning Mountain Road to four lanes after he received complaints from constituents. While checking out the changes, he said, he almost collided with another vehicle while trying to make a turn from the centre lane.

Council passed a motion to remove the bike lanes and revert back to four lanes of traffic.

But at a committee of the whole meeting on Monday, Coun. Pierre Boudreau raised the issue again, saying five weeks isn't enough time to see if the changes work.He made a motion to delay the restoration of the section of road until September 2019.

Council passed the motion, but it will not go into effect until it'spassed again at a regular council meeting.

"It could still flip again," Mayor Dawn Arnold said.

A number of councillors made a point Monday of saying the issue is about safety, not bike lanes.

"I'm not anti-bike lanes," Deputy Mayor GregTurner said. "I'm anti-where [the changes] start because it's not safe.

"To me, it's simply very, very dangerous."

City of Moncton engineer Alcide Richard admitted the shared central turning lane isn't in the right place.

"You're right, we should've started that closer to Gorge Road."

Drivers may bethe problem

Richard also said a major factor in the safety issue is vehicle speed.

"A lot of this is driver behaviour."

Arnold added that reverting back to four lanes comes with a hefty price tag.

"It's at least a $55Kfix after having it for just five weeks."

Boudreau said if the section of road is left as it is for another 12 months, there will be time for city staff to monitor how it is working.

Richardagreed to come back to council with information before then.

Leblanc called the move progress and said, "It's a big victory."