Better Choices for Mont Royal

 

1 October 2023 The Hard Way Over the Mountain

 A.T. was at Ma Bicyclette and decided he would ride over Mont Royal the hard way, ie using the main road Camillien Hood, rather than his usual route using the bike / pedestrian path Chemin Olmsted.  He could write up a blog comparing the two!!!!

  In order to make it fair, he decided to use the same starting and ending points, the Monument on Parc Ave, and the corner of Hill Park Circle and Cote des Nieges.

  Heading to the Monument from Ma Bicyclette, he first rode along the Lachine Canal path.  

He stopped beside the old swing bridge under the new REM, curious to check how noisy was the new train.  Unlike when he first heard it pass during the test trials in April, it seemed almost silent. They must have doing things reduce the sound.

He headed North on the Peel REV then on to Parc Avenue and the Monument.

Normally to over Mont Royal from there, he would cross Parc Avenue and go up Chemin Olmsted. But in order to make the comparison he continued north on Parc. The Parc Ave bike path which runs alongside in Jeanne Mance Park ends soon after at Ave Mont Royal.

 The photo was taken near the Louis Rubenstein Memorial Drinking Fountain.  Tragically,the absence of a bike path here has been a subject of controversy since the death of a cyclist 27 September 2021.

   This ghost bike is located on the opposite corner to the monument to Montreal's premier 19th century cycling advocate, Louis Rubenstein.  I wonder how he would feel about that....

Moving uphill Mont Royal Avenue towards the park, again there is no cycling infrastructure until the park entrance.

Once in the park, there is a long uphill climb near a busy roadway, Camillien Houde.  Because of a cycling death caused by a U-turning motorist, barriers have since been added though out the center section.

At the route's high point, beside the entrance to Mont Royal Cementary the road changes name to Remembrance.

Remembrance used to be a divided 4 lane highway through Mont Royal Park.  Recently, two of the lanes have been taken out of service and is now a 2 lane road through Mont Royal Park.  In some areas the abandoned two lanes have yet to be removed.

Rather than follow Remembrance down to Cote des Neiges, I crossed over to Beaver lake then down Hill Park Circle, which is a more direct way towards Westmount.

2 October 2023 The Easy Way Over the Mountain

  The next day I decided to compare the two routes over the mountain.

Riding along the De Maisonneuve path, I stopped at Mackay to check out the street art I had heard about.

No doubt the telltale paint on the arms gives away the artists....love the buttons BTW

Upon reaching the Monument, I took the nearby Chemin Olmsted.  A much more pleasant route than Camillien Houde.

 

Olmsted, unlike  Camillien Houde, also connects to other streets such as Pine Avenue.

The route is much less steep and an easier climb.

They both connect to Beaver Lake and Hill Park Circle.

Summary

   Voie Camillien Houde provides a more difficult way to cycle over Mont Royal than Chemin Olmsted. Commuting or leisure cyclists tend to use Olmsted. Camillien Houde attracts cyclists who want to use it for fitness training. The slope is more challenging and as there are no pedestrians in the way, they can  travel as fast as they wish.

    Recently the City of Montreal announced that they plan to close Camillien Houde to car traffic.  This is the highest profile car reduction project the city currently has.  It gets much more news coverage than the planned 2027 REV expansion to Jean Talon.

   However in terms of making a real difference in safety and GHG production, shifting from Montreal's car usage  to more bike / public transit usage should be the city's first priority. For these goals, projects that affect the main commuting / destination streets are more important than public parks. An expansion of the REV network to include more arterial streets is urgently needed.  

   The closing of Camillien Houde to car traffic will improve Mont Royal Park, but will do little for the fight against climate change and public safety.  For this, an expansion of the REV network to the most important, main arterial streets, such as Sherbrooke would be more effective. We are still waiting for a fundamental change in how Montreal travels.