Macdonald Avenue, which stretches southward from Vezina Avenue for about seven blocks nearly to Côte St. Luc Road, has the unusual distinction of running across the territory of three municipalities.

While the speed limit on the east side of Macdonald in the City of Montreal is now 40 km/h, Hampstead on the west side continues to post a 50 km/h limit. Meanwhile, a little further northward in the Côte St. Luc sector of the street where there are concentrations of senior citizens, the limit on Macdonald has been reduced to as low as 30 km/h.

In a letter Montreal city councillor Marvin Rotrand sent recently to Côte St. Luc’s mayor Anthony Housefather and Hampstead’s mayor William Steinberg addressing the issue, he said, “Recently, several residents of the Snowdon side of Macdonald Avenue informed me of drivers not respecting the posted speed limit. I have referred this complaint to the police department.

“However, the residents note that the speed limit on every residential street in the Snowdon district and throughout the Borough of Cote des Neiges –Notre Dame de Grace is 40 kp/h, while on Macdonald Avenue the legal limit is 50 kp/h. That situation occurs as the 50 kp/h limit conforms with Hampstead’s limit for residential streets.

“The Code de securité routière recognizes the higher speed in the case of an intermunicipal boundary,” Rotrand added. “I am therefore requesting that your municipality consider reducing the speed limit on Macdonald Avenue to 40 kp/h.” In an e-mail to the Monitor, Rotrand said he had heard from Housefather that Côte St. Luc “is soon to lower its speed limit on all residential streets.”

In his own e-mailed response to us, Housefather said, “It has already been agreed by the island mayors and the Quebec government to reduce the speed limit for the island to 40km an hour, except where we specifically call it out as being 50 or 30, and therefore at some point soon 40km will be standard in CSL.” In an interview, Steinberg said Hampstead’s 50 km/h speed limit on Macdonald “is something we’re looking into. We’re looking into dropping it to 40 km/h.”