In Quebec City, two redevelopments proposed to increase the canopy and conviviality in heavily mineralized central neighborhoods are causing discontent among part of the community. At issue: the loss of parking and the disruption caused by the elimination of a traffic lane.
The Saint-Sauveur district, in lower town of Quebec, has become a land of contrasts in recent years. A cohort of young professionals are putting down roots in this formerly working-class neighborhood: gourmet restaurants and trendy cafes now rub shoulders with hair salons where a clientele of seniors has their habits and the Jos tavern. Dion, the oldest establishment of its kind still in operation in Canada.
In this heterogeneous setting, a feeling unites everyone: the main street needs love. The City also admits it and is preparing to offer Saint-Vallier Street West a beauty worth at least $32 million, half of which comes from state coffers.
The makeover includes widening sidewalks, planting around 240 trees in addition to 45,000 shrubs and other herbaceous plants, reducing concrete surfaces and calming local traffic. New street furniture must appear, as well as public squares: during the unveiling of the site, the local councilor, Pierre-Luc Lachance, promised that this beautification would constitute his legacy to the district.
Not everyone, however, wants this inheritance.
The proposed redevelopment involves sacrificing a traffic lane — an aberration for part of the population, who see, in the creation of this one-way street, a threat to accessibility and quality of life in the neighborhood.
Several bus routes will have to deviate from Saint-Vallier Ouest to travel in an easterly direction. “It will force people with reduced mobility to travel 150 or 200 meters more to take the bus,” laments Serge Bernard, of the local citizens’ committee. Access to viable transport, Vivre en ville and the Collective for affordable and accessible public transport in Quebec, three organizations defending public transport, also denounce the City’s choice in unison.
The diversion of high-frequency bus lines towards small residential arteries also arouses concern, even indignation. “Our rue Saint-Luc is very quiet, there is no noise,” emphasizes Réal Couture. No one wants to be stuck with all the traffic in the neighborhood. »
The one-way street will, according to its calculation, bring between 150 and 200 buses per day to its already cramped street between the cycle paths, the car lane and the parking lanes. Mr. Couture dreads the changes to come: the roar of the engines, the fumes from the exhaust pipes, the constant coming and going of heavy traffic in front of his windows, very little for him. “If the City moves forward, I’m moving, it’s official,” says the owner who has been pampering his house since 2008.
Several citizens and merchants, on Saint-Vallier Street West and in the neighborhood, however applaud the City’s will and expect major benefits once the dust from the work settles in 2027. “It is certain that we will have to cross three years of construction, concedes Mickaël Gauvin-Latulippe behind the counter of the Ma station café. At the end of this, though, it’s really going to be extraordinary. »
Others, conversely, are already thinking of leaving. This is the case of Marc Gagnon, from a family of watchmakers from father to son since 1927 in Saint-Sauveur.
“In the past, the City has already completely abandoned the neighborhood,” he remembers. It was a time of prostitution, crime, uncleanliness too… But I have never thought about leaving as much as I do now,” says the heir to the business founded by his grandfather.
A “clear signal” from the population
The councilor for the Saint-Sauveur and Saint-Roch districts, Pierre-Luc Lachance, defends his position. “The status quo is more comfortable for everyone,” he emphasizes. But the current situation does not arise from the status quo, otherwise we would still be walking and riding horses. »
Society has evolved, and so has the climate emergency, maintains the elected official. “We must deal, today, with a way of seeing the city which is no longer that of the 1960s or 1970s,” believes Pierre-Luc Lachance. The automobile must now give up a little of its hold on public roads, in his opinion, to make room for greening and other modes of travel.
“We always think in terms of the transport pyramid, where the most vulnerable, at the top, must be prioritized in terms of development. The most vulnerable is the pedestrian, underlines the elected official. We need to send a strong message to motorists and cyclists. »
Our rue Saint-Luc is very quiet, there is no noise. No one wants to be stuck with all the traffic in the neighborhood.
The City also responds to the desires expressed by the community, explains Pierre-Luc Lachance. In 2017, an online consultation attracted more than 1,000 respondents, 78% of whom asked to prioritize greenery, safety and active mobility during the next repair work on the artery.
As for the diversion of buses via Saint-Luc Street, assures the advisor, it remains “under study” and subject to revision.
“There are not 20,000 solutions to increase the canopy in already very built-up settings,” adds her colleague Mélissa Coulombe-Leduc, councilor for the Cap-aux-Diamants district. She herself has to deal with certain protests in the Saint-Jean-Baptiste district, where a proposal to green Saint-Olivier, Philippe-Dorval and Sutherland streets would sacrifice around forty parking spaces.
“It’s normal, and the reaction of people who have a car is completely legitimate,” admits the advisor. On the other hand, she adds, a written consultation made it possible to survey the majority of the local population of the two streets concerned and “82% of people preferred to prioritize greening over on-street parking. The figures don’t lie,” underlines the advisor, in relation to the aspirations of citizens in Saint-Jean-Baptiste.
In the Saint-Sauveur district, opponents are trying to mobilize the community in the hope that the City will return to the drawing board. Two demonstrations have attracted around a hundred people so far — to the great dismay of Réal Couture, determined to fight the battle, but convinced of losing.
“When I talk to people in the neighborhood, 90% say that it doesn’t make sense, but they also say that it won’t change anything to demonstrate and that the City can do what it wants. I don’t agree: I think we should always try to defend our point of view. »