But Westmount city council will soon be looking at the possibility of keeping the path open to cyclist the year round — and possibly abolishing parking on the south side of de Maisonneuve between Atwater and Greene Avenue.

"Cycling is part of the solution to the traffic problem, but unfortunately Westmount has not promoted or invested in cycling since the path was opened nearly 18 years ago," said Daniel Lambert, president of the newly formed Westmount Cycling Association, at last week's city council meeting.

A year-round bike path would benefit the environment, said Lambert, whose organization advocates the promotion of a cycling "master plan" with adjacent communities, the establishment of Bixi bike stations in Westmount, and "more bike paths to ensure safe passage for cyclists throughout Westmount."

As it stands, winter cyclists now have to find alternate routes through Westmount when they travel along the year-round path from Montreal to NDG, which creates added hazards.

"We are very sensitive to the budget constraints currently limiting council, but we feel that cycling is important, that its infrastructure is not expensive, and Westmount needs to catch up," Lambert told council before thanking Mayor Peter Trent for his "encouraging comments" on the potential opening of a year-round bike path in Westmount, which had been quoted in that day's Gazette.

In response, Trent announced that council will soon be looking into the entire bike path issue. He said one of the first steps would be to consult with Vélo-Québec, which was suggested by Director General Duncan Campbell.

"We do have a problem — let's not kid ourselves," Trent said. "There's a problem with people coming out of their driveways — all sorts of things on de Maisonneuve that we have to resolve."

He added that Westmount would be consulting with the City of Montreal on how its winter bike path is working out, as well as looking into the overall impact of such a plan on the community.

The Westmount Municipal Association is also taking a close look at the bike path issue, and recently passed a resolution urging the City to abolish parking on de Maisonneuve between Greene Avenue and Atwater.

The resolution was presented to council by WMA board member Patricia Dumais — also a member of the Westmount Cycling Association — at last week's meeting.

The text of the WMA resolution, as read by Dumais, is as follows:

"A situation involving the safety of cyclists, pedestrians and motorists was brought to our attention at the WMA's last monthly open board meeting on Dec. 14. The City of Montreal's de Maisonneuve bike path, which stays open year-round, ends at the Westmount border just west of Atwater Avenue. Cyclists heading into Westmount are confronted by parked cars, and are forced to either merge onto the fast lane of de Maisonneuve Boulevard or use the sidewalk, creating hazardous situations for cyclists, pedestrians and motorists. Therefore, a resolution was unanimously passed by the WMA board to request that the City abolish parking on the south side of de Maisonneuve, between the eastern end of the de Maisonneuve bike path and Greene Avenue, to permit safe, year-round access for cyclists to Greene Avenue. Given the dangerous nature of the current situation, the WMA board respectfully requests city council to consider the resolution on an urgent basis."

The resolution was welcomed by council. "Obviously, we will take this into account when we look at the overall idea of winter bike paths," Trent said.

• For more information on the Westmount Cycling Association, visit their website at acw-wca.org