(Quebec) One year before the municipal elections, the Marchand administration is renaming the important cycling network announced with great fanfare less than a year ago, and removing the word “bicycle” from its name.
Goodbye, city bike corridors (CVC). These new “safe and comfortable” trails will now be called VivaCité corridors, the City of Quebec announced Tuesday.
The mayor of Quebec defended himself in a press scrum from erasing the word “bicycle” from the name because of the opposition that many citizens of the capital have towards this means of active transportation.
“It’s really not a question of branding », affirmed Bruno Marchand Tuesday morning. “The idea is not to change something that was going wrong, it was going very well. »
The mayor explains that this new improvement will more accurately represent what these cycle paths are. “Because it is wrong to think that it is just for cycling, it is for active mobility, it is for people walking, for calmer sidewalks, for better air quality, it fights against road congestion. »
The Vélocité corridor network was presented with great fanfare last February. The plan then consisted of putting in place 150 km of secure cycle paths, in the spirit of the Express Bike Network (REV) in Montreal.
The installation of HVAC on a small part of Chemin Sainte-Foy sparked complaints from certain merchants and citizens, while several others welcomed the arrival of a safe path in a sector of the City where they were sorely lacking. .
The Marchand administration also recently announced that it was postponing the implementation of CVC on the 3 for one year.e avenue, in Limoilou, where traders also expressed fears.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY QUEBEC CITY
The map of the 150 km of VivaCité corridors planned for 2034.
Bruno Marchand assures that the new name of the corridors does not change anything in the plan: the City still aims to complete its 150 km network by 2034.
“We want to be a city that offers sustainable health to its citizens,” added Mr. Marchand, to justify the VivaCité name.
“We pump billions into the health system for cures […] we know very well that if we build a city differently, fewer people will enter the system, it will cost less, he believes. That’s why it’s called Viva Cité. »