One more thing about Montreal as a `bike city`

I forgot to include one other aspect in the previous post. Montreal, like areas in Europe, has begun implementing an initiative to reduce posted driving speeds on residential streets. This concept was first implemented almost two decades ago in Graz, Austria, where they reduced speeds to 30 kph and 50 kph. 30 kph is 18.75 miles per hour, and 50 kph is about 30 mph. This initiative has since spread to the United Kingdom, and undoubtedly it is being implemented in other places as well.

Some of the boroughs and the center city district (Ville-Marie) are implementing a 30-40-50 kph policy. There is more about it on the Transport Montreal website.

The basic point, obviously, is to provide reduced speeds in residential areas. Because the likelihood of injury increases dramatically with the speed of a motor vehicle, for pedestrians and bicyclists involved in car accidents, an overall reduction in driving speed is a health and safety issue, not to mention a quality of life issue as well.

It`s not a policy without controversy, much like the so-called `war on drivers` that the Mid-Atlantic AAA harps about. See `Plateau Mont Royal introduces lower speed limits` and The problem with speed limits is that they are too low from the Montreal Gazette.

Interestingly, today`s papers have some articles relevant to this broad issue. The Plateau-Mont royal arondissement is initiating broader urban design changes to reduce the impact of commuter-based traffic on neighborhood streets, including a proposal to reduce the width of a street in a six block section to about 12 feet from more than 45 feet. See You can't blame the Plateau for trying to cut traffic.

And an article about the change in control of a local single branch department store discusses their interest in expansion is sparked by increased outmigration to the suburbs and the development of competitive shopping centers in the suburbs where their stores can now (hopefully) be successful and competitive. See Ogilvy is looking to expand to Brossard, Quebec City, and Laval. From the article:

Simard said several years ago, it would have been unthinkable to expand Ogilvy to the suburbs, but urban sprawl has seen the store's target, upper-middle class clientele, move out of the city.

"In the 80s and 90s, the economy was centred in Montreal, and the suburbs weren't big enough to sustain that kind of concept," Simard said. "Now we have an explosion of real estate and a migration of population to the suburbs. The shopping experience for high-end products is limited (in the suburbs), so you have people travelling to Montreal to buy their products, or they're buying them in boutiques."

With regard to the Plateau article, another piece sheds more light on the subject, `Montreal`s air quality in decline.` Montreal has three local political parties--probably the national parties are not allowed to run local parties here. And the Projet Montreal group is the most green and focused on sustainable transportation. From the article:

Under a smog-filled sky behind city hall and in stifling heat, Bergeron held a news conference to denounce Premier Jean Charest's announcement two weeks ago that the province will spend $310 million to add more lanes to Highway 19 from Highway 440 in Laval to Highway 640 in Bois des Filion.

Bergeron, who is a member of Montreal's executive committee, said the expansion will bring thousands more cars from the suburbs into Montreal daily.

Josee Duplessis, Projet Montreal's transportation and environment critic, also unveiled a disturbing analysis of downtown air quality deterioration over the past decade. According to data obtained by the city's air quality monitoring network, the number of "good air days" dropped from 267 in 1999 to only 109 in 2009, while so-called "bad air days" increased from 14 to 39 over the same period.

Bergeron said that decline is largely due to the fact that there are 375,000 more polluting vehicles in the Montreal region today compared to 10 years ago.

The Wikipedia article on the Montreal Metro has a good discussion of ideas--we won`t call them plans--for expansion. Clearly an emphasis needs to be put on that. Although the article mentions light rail plans too, undoubtedly pushed because it is cheaper than building tunnels. In fact, an exhibit is in place for the next few weeks about light rail, to promote the idea. I hope to get over and check it out.