Closing off rue de la Commune east of St. Laurent has had a terrible effect on circulation. For much of the summer, there is a traffic jam between Place Royale and St. Laurent. Practically, from St. Sulpice, one block west of St. Laurent, I have to drive west to St. François Xavier in order to go east to get on the freeway. On event nights, St. Sulpice, de la Commune, and St. Laurent all become gridlocked.
We were promised that the traffic light at Notre Dame and St. Laurent would be adjusted to allow time for the traffic on St. Laurent to clear. If it has been adjusted, it was not enough.
I am all for buses, but I rarely see more than four people on the bus; and often nobody except for the driver. The bus route itself was supposed to connect peripheral parking lots with Old Montreal, but I don't see any new peripheral parking lots.
Meanwhile, there continue to be no crosswalks across de la Commune, as I have asked all sorts of city officials for. When there is no traffic jam, cars rarely stop for pedestrians at St. Sulpice. Since this street is used by flocks of schoolchildren walking from the Métro to the Science Centre, the lack of either a stop sign or a pedestrian crosswalk at St. Sulpice is an accident waiting to happen. All in all, the new 515 route has made my life more difficult, and I don't see what good it is doing.
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