Lachine wants to lower speed limit on some streets

Driving through Lachine to avoid traffic gridlock on Highway 20 has been done for years, but with work for the Turcot Exchange now underway in earnest, the number of cars roaring along the borough’s side streets has increased.

So an application is being filed with Transports Québec to have the speed limit reduced to 30 kilometres an hour on all residential streets managed by the borough. About half of Lachine’s streets are now managed by Montreal.

In March, Lachine’s Public Works Department will present borough council with a map detailing which streets will be affected by the policy, after which Public Works will submit the request to the Transport Department. Borough Mayor Claude Dauphin said he does not foresee any problems in obtaining approval from the MTQ and, if all goes as planned, the signage will be installed during the summer.

Lachine is the latest in a growing list of boroughs to request a reduction in the speed limit on residential streets. It joins Outremont, Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie, the Sud-Ouest and Plateau-Mont-Royal.

Dauphin said his request did not come from any one complaint or incident but “stems from our concern for public safety, especially (that of ) our children and senior populations.”

Currently, the speed limit on main arteries in Lachine is the standard 50 kilometres an hour and 40 kilometres an hour on most side streets. The speed limit on streets bordering parks and in school zones is 30 kilometres an hour.

Main arteries, like 32nd Ave., will maintain the 50-kilometres-an-hour speed limit, but the limit on all other borough-managed streets will be reduced. In the short term, the speed limit on Montreal-managed streets will remain the same, but if problem areas are identified, they will be brought to the attention of the city for further analysis.

Enforcing the new speed limit will be a challenge. Dauphin said there will be a public-awareness campaign leading up to the introduction of the new speed limit and that the borough would collaborate with the neighbourhood police station to enforce the new law.

Concerns about pedestrian safety on Lachine streets heightened in 2014 when 71-year-old Lino Cierzo died from his injuries after being hit by a car while crossing at a cross-walk one block from his home near the corner of Provost St. and 32nd Ave. Crossing lights have since been installed at the site. If a pedestrian pushes the signal button, the lights flash brightly. But the curve off 32nd Ave. onto Provost St., mere metres from the crosswalk in question, remains an issue because it is a blind curve and not managed by a traffic light.

Lachine spokesman Denis Gaumond said the plan is to reconfigure the intersection, removing the curved lane and introducing a turn lane managed by a traffic-light signal.