They’re designed to slow down cyclists and harmonize road sharing between people who walk the street and those who ride.
Speed bumps have been installed on Mont-Royal Avenue in the Plateau to force cyclists to hit the brakes on this bustling commercial road.
“We still have an issue with some cyclists going too fast on the avenue,” Marianne Giguère, a Montreal city councillor who oversees the initiative, told Global News.
The speed bumps were installed earlier this week as part of a pilot project that’s modelled after the cycling-calming measure that was installed on Wellington Street in Verdun.
No motorized scooters are allowed and pedestrians have priority.
But some people say while the speed bumps are a good initiative, designated bike lanes with painted lines should have been added to avoid potential collisions between pedestrians and cyclists.
“Can we stay on our bike? Should we move on the side of our bikes? It’s not exactly clear,” Alex Emond, a cyclist, told Global News.
“As a pedestrian are we allowed to be in the street or is it primarily for cyclists?” Lauren Jensen, a pedestrian visiting from California, told Global News.
But Giguère says a reserved lane for cyclists wouldn’t work because Mont-Royal Avenue isn’t wide enough and she doubts neither cyclists nor pedestrians would respect the lanes.
“Obviously pedestrians would end up in that bike lane and cyclists would get out of that bike lane,” she said.
At least one business owner Global News spoke to supports the speed bumps, saying they will force cyclists to potentially stop and visit.
“Yeah, it helps,” Alejandro Velazquez, manager at Twisted Burger, told Global News.