Galipeault Bridge Update (May 6th, 2008)

Many CCB members are worrying about the Galipeault bridge construction work and whether or not there will be a bicycle path for the next two years. In the fall of 2007, things did not look too good for us as the bicycle path was removed from the "north" bridge (going west). The ciment wall between the road and bicycle path was removed. However, since that time, a little bridge on the other side of the Galipeault bridge did appear, so we knew there were good news to come.

During the winter, the Quebec Transport Minister did write up a web page about the demolition and contruction of the "south" bridge, and the measures taken to make sure that all cars, bicycles and pedestrians would have, at all times, access to a bridge to move back and forth between Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue and Ile-Perrot. Details provided by the Quebec Trasport Minister can be found in french on the MTQ web site or in the following PDF document.

However, there were still unanswered questions about the opening date of the new bicycle path and when would full closure of the "north" bridge would occur as indicated in the memos.

The new bicycle path on the north bridge will open the day the pedestrian sidewalk will close on the "south" bridge (going east). We will always have a bicycle path to cross the bridge. If all goes to according to the plan, the new bicycle path should open around May 24th. The new bicycle path will be 3 meters wide (10 feet). Actually, this will be a multi-function path allowing both pedestrians and cyclists to cross the bridge.

As soon as the Galipeault is crossed, cyclists have, as it is today, to cross an entrance road to the highway from Ile Bellevue and Ile Claude. With the new Condos being built recently on Ile Bellevue, more and more cars are using this entrance, so crossing this street is becoming more and more dangerous. During and after the construction work, the MTQ will provide much better signalization. But it still up to us to ride safely at this crossing. We will need to slow down and/or stop to make sure that we can cross this intersection safely. You know, cars are in full acceleration at that place because the road entrance to the highway is pretty short. This is a dangerous place to watch for.

Once this road is crossed, a new bicycle path going all the way to boulevard Perrot, including a new small bridge, was put in place. The engineer responsible for the work said that he had to push a lot to get this little bridge constructed as it was adding cost to the oervall project. But in the end, it was accepted.

So the only thing left to worry about our the club rides is the bridge closure. The MTQ memos indicates that it will often be closed at night or on weekends. For our Tuesday and Thursday night rides, when there will be a bridge closure, we should always be ok as the bridge closure time should be at 10h00 PM or later. So we should not get a surprise and get stuck in Ile-Perrot coming back from our rides. The other time when the bridge might be closed is during the weekends. When asked about this, the project engineer indicated that it is mostly at nights that the bridge will be closed. When being closed at night, the bridge should re-open at around 6h00 AM in the morning, so for our Saturday and Sunday rides leaving from the Colisee going through this bridge, again, we should be ok.

Although the construction will last for two years, cyclists should have access at all times to the bicycle path, except for full bridge closure that happens mostly at nights, and maybe on a few rare occasions during a full weekend.

Robert Lafleur