The mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand, wants to make active mobility the major challenge for the next few years of his mandate. He wishes to encourage it, to develop it. We can only be happy with this awareness, but does he know the extent of the challenge that awaits him and the urgency of the situation in the neighborhoods of Quebec, and particularly in the neighborhood of Vanier?
The development of active, sustainable and collective mobility is not a “war on the car”, but a fairer sharing of public space. This sharing is absolutely essential and will lead to multiple benefits, well beyond a simple saving of time on a bus or bicycle journey.
The omnipresence of the automobile in our lives and our cities has many negative consequences. Let us first mention noise and air pollution. The inhabitants of Vanier are particularly exposed to it, resulting in a greater risk of developing respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, sleep disorders and stress, to name a few. What is more, this pollution is also associated with higher risks of premature death, the tragic destination of these serious health inequalities.
Vanier’s urban planning is also problematic. In addition to heat islands due to the omnipresence of asphalt in streets and commercial parking lots, it exposes the most vulnerable road users to many dangers, particularly at intersections. Boulevard Wilfrid-Hamel is also one of the most accident-prone roads in the city. Improving urban planning to promote active mobility would have obvious benefits for the physical health of Quebecers.
What to do ?
Believing that citizens will immediately take the bus if it doubles their travel time, at an exorbitant price, or that they will walk and cycle if they have to put themselves in danger every journey is utopian.
If we want to develop active mobility and give the city back to its inhabitants, we must seize opportunities! With the width of its streets and its grid, Vanier is the ideal territory to dare a variety of facilities favorable to active mobility.
Thus, we propose the development of one-way streets, making it possible to narrow them and to integrate sidewalks, cycle paths and greening, in addition to reducing the speed of automobiles. We also propose the creation of shared and pedestrian streets. They would facilitate safe access to schools, libraries, parks and other community spaces while promoting the development of commercial streets at the community level, as Mayor Bruno Marchand wishes.
The community of Vanier has long suffered from Quebec City’s disinterest in its small neighborhood located seemingly nowhere on its map, neither quite central nor truly suburban. Elsewhere and forgotten.
A new mayor and a new team on the municipal council represent for this community a hope of inspiring leadership, of ambitions equal to the injustices to be reversed and of public actions vigorous enough to achieve this. The community of Vanier deserves it.
* The petitioners :
Nicolas Drolet, citizen mobilization officer at La Ruche Vanier; François Labbé, General Manager of La Ruche Vanier; Mathieu Legrand, citizen mobilization officer at La Ruche Vanier; Maude Samson-Gauthier, citizen mobilization officer at La Ruche Vanier.