Bridge to clear snow on bike path next winter
The bicycle path on the Jacques Cartier Bridge will be cleared of snow next winter, but that doesn’t necessarily mean cyclists will be permitted to ride on it.
The Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Inc., the federal corporation that manages the structures, announced Thursday it will begin a pilot project next December to regularly clear the bridge’s bike path after the first snowfall.
Currently, the bridge authority closes the path after the first snowfall, but a group of activists has been regularly scaling a fence to ride throughout the winter.
On Thursday, at a presentation that was part of the international Winter Cycling Congress, held at the Hyatt Regency Montreal, the bridge authority announced it will try several innovative methods to keep the path clear of snow next year.
“We recognize there is a growing demand to use the bridge in the winter, and we can no longer ignore that demand,” said Andy Woo, the director of planning for the corporation.
“We know that there is a group that uses it now, but they are quite expert. We want to be able to open the path for all levels of cyclists.”
Woo said there are challenges, because the path is more narrow than most bike paths on the street, it has steep grades, and salting the path is not an option, because it is on top of the concrete structure that holds up the bridge.
Crews will test out several different ways to heat up the surface, to keep it free of snow and ice without using salt, he said.
“We can’t say yet we’re going to open it,” Woo said. “If it’s closed, we’re going to continue to discourage the use of the path.”
He said there may be a small group of cyclists that will be allowed to use the path on a trial basis.
Daniel Lambert, a spokesperson for the Montreal Bike Coalition, said the pilot project is good news, but he said he’d like to see the bridge authority also use traditional snow clearing methods so that the bridge can open all winter.
The conference also heard from planners working on keeping several main routes on the island free of snow and ice during the winter.
Chantal Hooper, the director of the roads and parks division for the Côte-des-Neiges — Notre-Damede-Grâce borough, said the borough has been focusing its efforts on keeping the de Maisonneuve Blvd. path good for cyclists all winter. However, it has been more difficult clearing paths on roads where there are just painted lines for bikes, and no physical separation from cars.
“We have been focusing much more on the priority paths, but we’re going to be focusing on other main thoroughfares next year,” Hooper said.
Several visitors attending the conference said they were impressed with the state of Montreal’s
winter cycling network.
“It’s icy, so the conditions are never going to be ideal, but I’m impressed with the aggressiveness of the snow clearing crews,” said Steven Bercu, the president of the Boston Cyclists Union.
“Most cities typically scale back the network during the winter and focus on key connections.”
We recognize there is a growing demand to use the bridge in the winter, and we can no longer ignore that demand.