Bike lanes on the island and why Montreal is conducting an audit on them

One kilometre at a time, Ariane Garon is cycling across the island.

But her rides aren’t leisure trips. Equipped with two high-end cameras, artificial intelligence software and a lot of leg work, Garon is taking photos and collecting data on the state of 1,065 kilometres of bike lanes and paths on the Island of Montreal.

“It’s (to) see all the potholes and cracks on the bike path,” Garon told Global News.

The university student working on her master’s degree in geography is part of a Montreal pilot project to analyze and log the condition of the entire bike network.

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“It’s an artificial intelligence software that shows the degree of degradation of the roads, of the bike paths,” she said.

She started her rides in May and will spend another two weeks on the task until the job is done.

Some of the data collected will also be offered to Google to be included in its street views on its maps app.

“With those information we will be able to make better decisions in order to develop the network or fixing it,” Philippe Sabourin, Montreal’s spokesperson, said.

Beaconsfield’s mayor, Georges Bourelle, supports the initiative, saying any details released to the city will be analyzed.

“Whatever is found that could be improved on a bike path network, sure, we will consider it,” Bourelle said.

Montreal is aiming to have all the data on the condition of Montreal’s bike lane infrastructure available to the public by the fall.