{"id":3091,"date":"2009-06-19T18:13:21","date_gmt":"2009-06-19T23:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingmontreal.ca\/?p=3091"},"modified":"2013-01-21T11:59:44","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T16:59:44","slug":"the-diciest-part-of-my-commute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/06\/19\/the-diciest-part-of-my-commute\/","title":{"rendered":"The diciest part of my commute"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the past few months I’ve come to know the Boul. St. Laurent underpass between the Mile End and Little Italy quite well, adjacent to the parc sans nom<\/a>. Jacob recently asked readers for their dangerous intersection<\/a> beefs, and here’s my own contribution.<\/p>\n

\"bike\"<\/p>\n

Today I spent 15 minutes watching numerous cyclists, pedestrians, and cars navigate the dangerous corner on the northern side. The lack of an efficient bicycle route across this divide (see map below) causes cyclists to take to the sidewalk when headed south (against car traffic). Pedestrians around the corner cannot see the cyclists, and vice-versa. Worse, cars moving at high rates of speed up St. Laurent cannot see around the corner, even to see those on the crosswalk until the last moment.<\/p>\n

I’ve had a few close calls as cars quickly take the turn onto Bellechasse. Today’s evidence, shown below, of a missed turn indicates the speed at which people take the turn without a doubt, if not an evasive maneuver from a pedestrian or cyclist in the crosswalk.<\/p>\n

\"ibke\"<\/p>\n

In my experience, both cyclists and pedestrians are courteous to each other as they pass, slowly going and conscious of the blind spot. It’s as if there’s a common understanding that it’s an infrastructural flaw, an area not intended for heavy bicycle and pedestrian use.<\/p>\n

However, if it hasn’t happened yet, there’s definitely high potential for some sort of collision.<\/p>\n