Montreal's REV Bike Lane Extension To The West Island Will Include A New Bridge Over The A-40
It will be easier to get to the future largest urban park in Canada.🚴
Sketch for the future public transit corridor towards the Kirkland station.
In an effort to enhance sustainable mobility in the 514, the City of Montreal will build a new pedestrian and bike link across Highway 40 in the West Island that will connect Kirkland station on Réseau express métropolitain (REM) to a future extension of the Montreal bike highway system, the Réseau express vélo (REV). La Presse was first to report this story.
Officials also hope the new link across the highway will facilitate access to the future Grand Parc de l’Ouest, scheduled to open in 2030. The 3,000-hectare park, eight times larger than New York City's Central Park, will be a mix of existing parks and land in high-risk flood areas.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante shared a rendering of the future pedestrian and bike bridge on social media, calling it an "important milestone in the development of sustainable transportation infrastructure that meets the needs of the people of the West Island of Montreal."
Other improvements are coming to the area around the future Kirkland station too, including a 1.2-kilometre bus-only lane on the highway. The station itself will have a bus terminus, a drop-off area, an area for taxis and bike racks, the city said in a press release.
"In the long term, citizens travelling in this sector will have an enviable ecological alternative to the use of a solo car, as well as direct access to the natural spaces of the Grand Parc de l'Ouest," Sophie Mauzerolle, the Montreal Executive Committee member responsible for transportation and mobility, said in the release.
West Island won't be able to ride their bikes on the new bridge anytime soon, however. The new infrastructure won't be operational at least until the planned opening of the REM's West Island branch in 2024.