I don’t buy a lot of bike paths, but that seems like a pretty good deal.
Congrats Montreal! So far you can’t go wrong with more bike paths, but I guess that’s easy to say for a Calgarian.
There is a little bit of controversy around the bike paths in Montreal, because car users complain that they don’t do enough for them. The city is crippled with many road repairs and projects that moving through the city a pain in the ass. Anyway, it’s obvious that Projet Montreal doesn’t care about car users.
Calgary and perhaps all cities have the same discourse. The car only people get upset when bike paths or BRTs are made.
Given there are lots of roads here that are inaccessible by bike, transit or walking having no shoulders or sidewalks, I’m always happy when another option is added.
I definitely don’t think of Montreal as a driving city but consider that a part of the appeal when visiting.
I bike, walk and drive and am generally happy when all infrastructure is updated.
It’s a silly argument, too.
Bikes take up way less space than cars. The more bike infrastructure there is, the more cyclists there are, the fewer cars there are in the roads, the less traffic there is.
Drivers benefit from bicycle infrastructure. Everyone benefits from bicycle infrastructure. The more cars we can displace from roads, the better it is for literally everyone. (Aside from those selling cars, gas, and related industries, I suppose.)
Anyway, it’s obvious that Projet Montreal doesn’t care about car users.
As someone who drives Hochelaga-Senneville and back daily: GOOD.
For the great majority of people driving around Montreal is unnecessary and cumbersome. Making roads more accessible and safe to cyclists is only logical and frees up space for the rest of us who must drive.
For the record and in the spirit of full disclosure, if I can get somewhere by bike in less than an hour I do and I used to do it daily for work.
The city is crippled with many road repairs
obvious that Projet Montreal doesn’t care about car users.
Repairing roads is not caring about car users?
Car brains love to crybully whenever anything happens that they feel doesn’t directly benefit them. The irony being that the (comparatively) tiny investment in bike infrastructure still benefits them by reducing the number of cars on the road.
Good
How much does 60km of two lane road cost for comparison? I would think building a bike path would end up being cheaper.
Also lifetime maintenance…
Bikes cause hardly any damage vs cars making potholes every year
Way more. I’m working on a road project now. Asphalt for a road (100mm thick) is being bid at approximately $35/sq.m. Granular are about an extra $30/sq.m.
For a standard residential size road (8.5m curb to curb) that puts you at $552/m of road length, or 33mil. The big costs on top of that number always come when you’ve got to remove the old asphalt and gravel ($75/cu.m), as well as all the fiddly little stuff like line painting, tying in grades to make sure you have drainage, sod restoration, tree plantings, etc.
$1-3m / km. So 60 km of 2 lane road would cost $60-180 million. Probably on the higher end for Montréal being an urban area.
But roads can cost as over $5Bn for 1.7km (looking at you Gardener Expressway). So $2,941 million /km for however many lanes that is.
These bike lane in particular are probably more expensive than brand new lanes, as they also require road adjustments.
Bikes don’t cause potholes, so maintenance is cheaper.
Yeah, those are just construction costs.
Road maintenance bills are quite high.
A bike path only needs SNIC and a rebuild after 30 years.
If I could speak French fluently I would definitely move there. Between housing costs and their cycling/pedestrian infrastructure I’m super envious.
You can speak English and live in Montreal, everyone speaks both language. Plus, you will look very sexy if you try to speak French.
Well not everyone speaks English but definitely a lot of people. Still many companies require some minimal French speaking. Despite this, you could manage to live in English only.
When I was there, conversations start in french, then you have to go through the song and dance of saying you don’t speak french, and I’ve heard stories in certain areas where some french don’t like english only speakers.
Vast majority of people don’t care. It’s not like you would get attacked. It’s just nice to speak the language of the place but not a requirement.
That’s nothing compared to what Vancouver spent to put concrete barricades on the roads in Stanley Park and then remove them….
Better deal than what Alberta gets from the “War Room” for the same amount.
Nice
