Residents, business-owners on Henri-Bourassa want bus and bike lanes dismantled

With construction completed on a new segment of a bike path and bus lane on Henri-Bourassa Blvd., residents brought their complaints to Ahuntsic-Cartierville’s elected officials Monday night.

“We are not able to even have people over, because we have to tell them to come by bus or bicycle, because they can’t park,” said a resident during the question period of the monthly borough council meeting.

A petition with more than 3,200 names was tabled at the meeting, calling on the borough to dismantle the so-called mobility corridor that transforms eight lanes of vehicle traffic and parking spots to just four lanes for cars, two reserved lanes for buses and a protected bike path on each side of the street. The residents pointed out that there is already a long bike path in the area, roughly two blocks north on Gouin Blvd., which runs along the Rivière des Prairies.

Introduced by the previous Projet Montréal administration in 2021, the plan calls for an 18-kilometre dedicated bike path and bus lane along Henri-Bourassa Blvd. from Highway 40 in the St-Laurent borough, all the way to Albert-Hudon Blvd. in Rivière-des-Prairies. So far, seven kilometres have been built, including a stretch slated to open in the coming days east of Lajeunesse St.

Despite the vocal opposition to the project, the current Ensemble Montréal administration decided to maintain the project when it was elected last year.

“This is not a project that we would have conceived of, but today we are in front of a fait accompli, and today this project is far too advanced to abandon,” Montreal Mayor Sorraya Martinez Ferrada told reporters in June.

Speaking at the borough council meeting on Monday, Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough mayor Maude Théroux-Séguin said the borough made some changes to improve aspects of the project, including authorizing U-turns and changing some of the lane configurations.

“These are very small improvements, but we are working to find more improvements,” Théroux-Séguin said. “The (city’s urban planning department) is working on a preliminary report on this. I have heard (about the situation) every day for the last year, and we are all concerned about this, so we can improve things in a way to allow people to live together peacefully.”

Projet Montréal councillor Nathalie Goulet said the optimal results will be seen when the entire 18-kilometre corridor is completed. She said mobility-corridor lanes will help eliminate congestion and benefit people using public transit anywhere between Montreal North and the REM’s Du Ruisseau station in St-Laurent.

“We saw for years that it was far from optimal to have eight lanes dedicated just to cars and parking,” Goulet said. “This is a project that everyone agrees is evolving, but I am concerned to hear that the portion leading to the Du Ruisseau station is not in the plans. We absolutely have to continue this project. It’s about having a vision for the future.”

Several citizens came forward with support for the project, including a woman who said it was a great help for her to have a bike path along the street to navigate from Montreal North.

However, on the ground in Ahuntsic, several business owners who spoke with The Gazette decried the fact that the project involved eliminating parking spots on Henri-Bourassa Blvd. and several side streets.

“We’ve had quite a few times when the road was closed over the summer, so it was really hard to even get here,” said Lemir Hardouche, co-owner of Baba Barbier on Henri-Bourassa, at the corner of St-Denis St. “Since we opened in 2018, there has always been construction on Henri-Bourassa, but this year, it was massive.”

Last year, the eastbound lanes across the street from his barber shop were rebuilt, and this year, the westbound lanes right in front of his shop were completed. He said most of the parking spots in the area have been removed. There is no longer any parking permitted on Henri-Bourasssa, and most side streets have parking spots that are reserved for residents.

“We had quite a few street closures, the last time it was for several weeks, and when it opened back up, there was no parking left.”

He added that while he supports the idea of a bike path, he just wants the city to help improve the parking situation.

“I get it, Henri-Bourassa is like a highway; it’s one of the only roads that goes east to west, but if they want to keep the bike lanes, let them fix the parking.”

Employees at the nearby Basha restaurant on St-Denis St., and at the Cuir Dimitri leather clothing store, said they believe a reduction in foot traffic has affected business. The employees declined to comment on the record to a reporter.