The intersection of de Maisonneuve and Decarie Boulevard in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG) neighbourhood, is a five-way set of corners that sees all kinds of traffic: four-wheel, two-wheel and foot traffic.
It is also a nexus of divergent opinions.
“This is a very problematic intersection,” one NDG cyclist told Global News.
But borough officials say the intersection is much safer than it was before, thanks to the addition of a divided bike path along de Maisonneuve.
“We fixed what was then known as the ‘Vendome Danger Zone,'” said the borough’s mayor, Russell Copeman. But his opposition says otherwise.
Peter McQueen, an opposition councillor, told Global News the intersection lacks signals and right-of-ways dedicated to bicycles, meaning that bikes and cars often end up vying for the same stretch of road at the same time while trying to turn various ways.
The bike path along Decarie also is simply painted on north of de Maisonneuve, and becomes a separate lane south of de Maisonneuve. And there are no divisions for the bike paths in any direction where cars pass, leading some to call for construction of a bike overpass parallel to nearby rail tracks.
One factor exacerbating the situation is the closure of the St-Jacques overpass, which is diverting thousands of cars through the area daily. The overpass project is scheduled for completion by the end of 2017.