After the parks flood in the event of heavy downpours, the City of Montreal plans to transform certain roads into “sponge streets” to allow water to penetrate the ground.
Mayor Valérie Plante raised this option on Tuesday during a dinner conference during which she discussed the metropolis’ environmental initiatives.
“In Montreal, we decided to invest a lot in the idea of having sponge streets. We already had sponge parks, we are going to make sponge streets, because we see that there are places in the city where each torrential rain […] will find themselves flooded,” she said. Subsequently, she clarified that this concept consists of breaking up part of the asphalt of a street in order to create places where water can penetrate into the ground.
A first project of this type will see the light of day shortly, she said, without wanting to specify its location.
“I have to change the territory. I can’t leave it the same, people are getting flooded. It’s incredibly sad when people come to cry in a district council,” she continued, as part of an event of the Council on International Relations of Montreal (CORIM).
Mayor Plante has lifted the veil on her sponge streets project to illustrate that she often has to juggle between citizens’ ecological convictions and their opposition to projects that directly impact their lives.
“If I have to remove parking to create sponge streets, I need the population to help me,” said Valérie Plante. “More and more, there are going to be difficult choices to make. […] We have the right to say that we are not happy about certain things, but we must be consistent. »