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The old setup of one lane in each directin created traffic jams. (TYREL FEATHERSTONE/The Gazette)
New setup eases Île Bizard traffic
Two lanes off island make commute faster
Alycia Ambroziak
The Gazette
Thursday, May 29, 2008
The old setup of one lane in each directin created traffic jams. (TYREL FEATHERSTONE/The Gazette)
The bridge linking Île Bizard to Montreal Island is only 232 metres long, but it was the cause of many long traffic jams last week as only two lanes were open to traffic as crews began restructuring work on the three-lane span.
But a new method of letting vehicles on and off the island has eased the situation considerably.
And that, said Richard Bélanger, mayor of the Ste. Geneviève/Île Bizard borough, is a good thing.
“We expected some traffic problems when the work began, but not as much as we had,” Bélanger said, noting it was taking commuters more than an hour to get off the island, compared to five to 10 minutes under normal circumstances.
“Allowing traffic to pass each way on one lane only simply didn’t work; it caused huge traffic jams of cars wanting to get off Île Bizard in the morning, while there were almost no cars coming in,” Bélanger said.
As of last Thursday morning, work crews allowed traffic off the island on both open lanes of the Jacques Bizard Bridge during morning rush hours, stopping traffic to allow vehicles on to the island only when necessary. The lanes were opened to inbound traffic during the afternoon rush hours.
Bélanger said the new traffic strategy off Île Bizard will be in
effect between 6:30 and 9 a.m. weekday mornings and on to Île Bizard from 3 to 6 p.m. weekday
afternoons.
“It will solve the problem,” Bélanger said.
Île Bizard resident James Posman said the new traffic configuration did help ease the situation.
“It took me 10 minutes to cross the bridge on Thursday, compared to more than an hour earlier in the week,” Posman said. He and his family have been living on Île Bizard for more than a decade.
Mike Ziten, another Île Bizard resident, said the situation had improved somewhat with the new traffic configuration.
“It went from taking an hour to cross the bridge on Wednesday to half an hour on Thursday,” he said, adding that there was no problem with weekend traffic. “But there should be another bridge. What would we do if there was an emergency with the only bridge on and off the island?”
The only other way off Île Bizard is by a small ferry at the north end of the island to Laval.
The current repairs to the bridge are expected to last until the end of August. The bridge was built in 1966 with only two lanes. A walkway was added in 1996 and a third lane with traffic lights that allow two lanes going off the island weekday mornings and two lanes on to Île Bizard weekday afternoons was added in 1999.
Work on the span will continue in September but that will not affect traffic, Bélanger said. He was flooded with calls early last week from irate commuters who thought the work on the bridge was being done only to create a
bicycle lane.
“Work to replace the guard rails on the bridge were declared necessary and obligatory by the Transport Ministry,” he said. “We took advantage of the fact that work had to be done on the bridge anyway to create a bicycle path in order to better the quality of life of our citizens.
Bélanger also said work was not necessitated by increased residential development on Île Bizard, which is home to two golf clubs – the Elmridge and the Royal Montreal golf courses.
Bélanger said the creation of another bridge connecting Île Bizard and the island of Montreal is included in Montreal’s transportation plan, expected to be adopted in June.
“Another bridge will be built next to the Jacques Bizard Bridge,” he said. “But that will not happen for another five to 10 years.”