Réseau express vélo

      Montreal's Express Bike Network, known by its french acronym Réseau Express Vélo (REV), has been in the planning phase for the past couple of years.  Recently, the Covid crisis has highlighted the sudden need for social distancing and portions of the REV network have been quickly implemented by the city.

     Apparently the Christophe Colomb path is not considered part of the REV but rather part of the overall Covid response.  What distinction this makes in terms of street design is unclear. An outline of what is included with the REV project can be found here.

   The following map shows where the city's plans to implement changes to street design as result of new need for social distancing in the near future.  The press release from the city can be found here.

  The first changed path that I noticed was the  Rachel / Sherbrooke path between Parc La Fontaine and Viau Street.  The second was Avenue Christophe Colomb between Parc Wilfrid Laurier and the north shore of the island bounded by the Rivière-des-Prairies.  Both of these new paths greatly improve both the capacity and safety over the previous street design.

Overview of the paths within the Quebec Bicycle Network

     These two first two implementations of post Covid bike path modifications  are on some of the most highly used and oldest portions of the overall Route Verte bicycle highway system within the province of Quebec.  The Rachel / Sherbrooke path heads east eventually linking with Route 5 leading along the North Shore of the St Lawrence to Quebec City.  The Christophe Colomb path is part of Route 1 which leads north to the Parc Linéaire Le P'tit Train du Nord. The separated portion of the Route 1 bike path eventually ending at the town of Mont Laurier approx 300 km away from Montreal.  The Velo Quebec headquarters are located at the junction of Route Verte 1 and the Rachel bicycle paths.

Rachel / Sherbrooke Street Path

  Using the Velo Quebec Headquarters as a starting point, heading east, the Rachel path is a separated bi-directional path.  My guess is that this portion was first built in the 1970's.  This portion of the  path is among the most heavily used in the city and has not been modified since the Covid crisis.

Rachel Path near Parc La Fontaine

East of Parc La Fontaine a second path has recently been added to original path on the opposite side of Rachel. I'm not certain if the second path is for social distancing of pedestrians or for east bound bicycles.

Original path with second path added on far side of Rachel

Further east, some of the modifications involve both Social Distancing and bike path expansion

Rachel approaching the Olympic Stadium, original path on left now has doubled capacity

Sherbrooke Street beside the Olympic Stadium.  New bike path added on street beside the original located beside the street on the right.

Route Verte #1 (Christophe Colomb) path

    Again using the Velo Quebec Headquarters as a starting point, heading north, the Route Verte #1 path is a bi-directional path separated from traffic by parked cars.  South of Parc Wilfrid Laurier the path runs on Brebeuf street.  It is unchanged since the start of the Covid crisis.

Route Verte # 1 South of Parc Wilfrid Laurier.  Unchanged since Covid crisis began.

North of the park Route Verte #1 follows Christophe Colomb for a short distance then jogs over to Boyer before returning to Christophe Colomb at Jarry.  The new paths on Christophe Colomb makes this jog over to Boyer by Route Verte 1 unnecessary.

Two new South bound bike lanes on Christophe Colomb.  The two new North bound lanes on on the far side of the street.

The new South bound lanes presently end abruptly at the junction point for the Boyer connector of the original path.  The North bound lanes are again at the far side of the street.

Bus Stops, which are located at intersections, are shared spaces with bicycles but tend to be used by right turning cars as well. They are marked by hatched areas.

Between Jarry and Sauvé Route Verte #1 bike path ran along grassland west of Christophe Colomb.  The two new unidirectional paths have been added on both sides of the street similar to the portion of the street further south.

New South bound path on Christophe Colomb, original bidirectional path is on right behind grass hill. New North bound lanes are on far side of street.

In this portion the original bidirectional path is above the curb on the right.  New North bound lanes are on far side of street.

Between Sauvé and the Rivière-des-Prairies the original bidirectional path was located on the west side of Christophe Colomb.  This original path is now the South bound lanes and the new North bound lanes have been built on the far side of the street.

South bound lanes on original path, new North bound lanes on far side of street.

Summary

  The new REV style unidirectional paths on both sides of the street represent a major upgrade to the traditional bidirectional bike paths seen in most of Montreal.   Bravo to the city for taking this important step.