One of my guilty pleasures, I admit, is going back to reading the apocalyptic scenarios that some predicted in 2020, when Valérie Plante announced the Réseau express vélo (REV) and the pedestrianization of certain streets in Montreal.
We were predicted Baghdad in time of war. And finally, what? We shared fears. Cycle paths are widely used, traders are now in favor of them, pedestrian streets are more plowed than ever. In short, a success.
Wherever we make the decision to deconstruct part of the city, erected around roads, parking lots and gray concrete, we have made life better and more breathable, to the happiness of the people who live there. And who want more.
The “Plant model”
Why am I coming back here today?
Because we have the impression of reliving this old merry-go-round since Valérie Plante’s announcement to pedestrianize part of Old Montreal and certain streets, such as Avenue du Mont-Royal.
Valérie Plante says she wants to create the “Kingdom of pedestrians” in the Old Quarter. Like a tic, the same boring reviews return, the same doomsday scenarios are conjured up.
And yet, you have to be blind not to see that a consensus has been created in Quebec on the need to rebalance the sharing of car-pedestrian-bicycle space, etc.
Something like the “Plante model” of mobility has caught on.
I am currently watching Bruno Marchand struggle in Quebec to defend his tramway and the pedestrianization of certain streets against winds and demagoguery, and I admire his perseverance.
I also watch Stéphane Boyer go to Laval, kingdom of the tank, defend the idea of car-free neighborhoods and densification, and I admire a politician who does not only comfort citizens.
I also see certain suburban towns, where the car reigned supreme, integrating other modes of transport, green spaces and a densification of certain neighborhoods to create better community life.
In May, our cities are at the peak of their beauty. They are even more so when we give them a breath of fresh air, as we want to do for certain streets in Montreal and elsewhere.