City to expand the REV
The city’s putting out tenders to build another section of the REV along Jean‑Talon and Bélanger, but this one will only go eastward from Boyer. Cyclists will have to wait till next year for a westbound REV in that area.
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Kate
Reply
DeWolf 11:53 on 2024-02-19 Permalink
You can see why the city chose to start with this particular stretch. Compared to west of Boyer, the road is a bit wider, traffic volumes lower and there aren’t as many businesses. But I worry that opening in phases like this will undermine the whole project, because it won’t be that heavily used at first, and it will give ammunition to opponents who say that a REV on Jean-Talon disrupts things without much benefit.
One of the reasons St-Denis worked so well is that the entire stretch from Gouin to Roy opened at once. It was argue to argue with its usefulness. But a little stretch that runs from Boyer to 1st? Not that useful.
That said, I really hope it goes well and there isn’t too much outrage whipped up by certain media outlets and politicians, because the central portion of Jean-Talon is awful even if you’re driving, let alone walking or cycling. The REV will calm things down and open up access.
DeWolf 11:55 on 2024-02-19 Permalink
Okay, forget what I said. I just read the article. The REV Jean-Talon will be… eastbound only? What a dumb idea.
Kate 12:23 on 2024-02-19 Permalink
Does say that westbound will be tackled next year.
I wish I weren’t so cynical. I keep thinking these bike paths will be put in, only to be yanked out again by a future, more car‑oriented city hall.
DeWolf 12:31 on 2024-02-19 Permalink
Westbound will be on Bélanger, not Jean-Talon. Apparently, that will be case for the entire stretch from St-Dominique to St-Michel or Pie-IX.
Which means the one-way paths on each street will be effectively used as bidirectional paths, which undermines the entire point of having one-way paths (because they’re safer).
I’m less worried about these paths being removed by a future administration. Even the “transitory” REVs like St-Denis have many permanent structures, dedicated traffic lights as well as planters with trees and other greenery. You’d need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per path to dig up the street and chop down trees if you wanted to get rid of them. And on top of that, permanent paths like Pine Avenue, Peel or the new stretch of St-Antoine in St-Henri are fully integrated into the street design, so you’d have to dig up the entire street to get rid of the bike path.
Joey 12:45 on 2024-02-19 Permalink
@DeWolf are there other instances of the REV being split like that (est and west on different streets)? Are they treated as bidirectional?
Kate 13:47 on 2024-02-19 Permalink
I’m trying to see how it makes sense. Bélanger only exists till it reaches St‑Denis, then it turns into Mozart. Mozart does a little deke where it crosses St‑Laurent, goes through Mile Ex, then t‑bones into Marconi before the tracks, where it ends. It’s not a crosstown street like St‑Denis or Jean‑Talon.
DeWolf 14:08 on 2024-02-19 Permalink
@Joey Yes, there’s precedent. The St-Antoine/St-Jacques/Viger REV (only portions of which are complete) is split between those one-way streets. The St-Denis REV is bifurcated above de Castelnau.
In those cases it makes more sense as the REV is running along a one-way street. The streets are fairly close together too. There’s only 60 metres between Berri and Lajeunesse, for example, and between 100-250 metres on St-Antoine/St-Jacques/Viger.
Jean-Talon and Bélanger are both two-way commercial streets and it’s a fairly long 320-metre block between the two. It’s a strange arrangement to split the REV between the two of them. Especially when the entire Jean-Talon REV is completed from Anjou to Décarie: if you’re travelling the whole stretch, you’ll have a 600-metre detour to make halfway along.
Joey 15:05 on 2024-02-19 Permalink
@DeWolf but in the case of the St-Antoine/Etc REV, does anyone ever ride in the wrong direction? I’d be surprised if that were the case when the one-way REV around JT wasn’t orderly…
SMD 15:39 on 2024-02-19 Permalink
@Joey The north-south REV on Lajeunesse and Berri goes north on Lajeunesse and south on Berri. I have never seen anybody attempt to go against traffic. It works well.
DeWolf 16:21 on 2024-02-19 Permalink
@SMD I have encountered lots of cyclists riding against the flow on Lajeunesse, Berri and St-Denis. It’s fine on Lajeunesse and Berri because the path is so wide, but on St-Denis it’s dangerous.
I just saw the technical drawings for the “REV” on Bélanger and it’s not even a protected path. It’s a painted bike lane in the dooring zone like what the Coderre administration liked to do.
What a joke.
jeather 11:42 on 2024-02-20 Permalink
The St-Antoine REV west of Atwater (at least) isn’t open yet. I have seen people going the wrong way down the REV on St-Jacques (west of Atwater) and lots of cyclists going both the right and wrong way on the street on St-Antoine. I assume when it eventually does open, people will mostly go on the right paths.
CE 15:29 on 2024-02-20 Permalink
I really don’t understand the mockup in the La Presse story. It shows two lanes of traffic going both ways and a lane of parking on one side and the bike lane on the other. This is a four lane street with parking on both sides. Unless they’re planning to widen the sidewalks by the equivalent of a full traffic lane on both sides, it makes no sense!
Why not do what was done on St-Denis, make the street two lanes with two lanes of parking and two lanes of bike lanes? That way, the bike lane is in one place, parking is maintained, and the street is quieter?
Orr 11:54 on 2024-02-24 Permalink
@CE It may be because St-Denis has no left turn intersections so one lane each way is adequate. Jean-Talon has many left-turn intersections, and if it went to one-lane each way these intersections would be constantly blocked with cars waiting to turn. That is my observation and I use Jean Talon frequently.