Montreal Will Turn Two Residential Streets Into Cycle Streets

The borough will add 20 kilometres of bike lanes by 2015 and will create two "cycle streets" on which cars are permitted but cannot transit through.

The borough also plans to redesign 22 dangerous intersections.

Densely built and criss-crossed by through traffic, the Plateau has a high proportion of residents for whom walking and cycling is the main mode of transport.

Every year, about 300 pedestrians and cyclists are killed or seriously injured in the borough — five times more than the average for Montreal , said Luc Ferrandez, the mayor of the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough.

The recent death of cyclist Mathilde Blais in an underpass after being struck by a tractor-trailer was the final straw, he said. Blais was following the rules of road, he noted.