Montréal will develop eco-responsible parking lots in the rue Masson sector, in the borough of Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie. The “Masson Mobility Pole” project will maintain paid parking spaces as well as spaces for car sharing, but will add charging stations for electric vehicles, a shelter for bicycles and vegetation.
The Montreal Sustainable Mobility Agency, which is leading the project, will transform three existing parking lots, located in the quadrilateral between 9e avenue, rue Masson, 6e avenue and rue Dandurand, to develop them in a more ecological way. Thus, the asphalt surfaces will be replaced by permeable pavement and the site will include basins to collect rainwater.
For the three islands, the number of car parking spaces will increase from 94 to 77. In addition to the paid parking spaces and those intended for permit holders, the site will have 14 spaces for Communauto car-sharing cars, two parking reserved for people with reduced mobility, six electric charging stations, covered parking for twelve bicycles, two repair stations for bicycles and two placottoirs.
The spaces will also be greened with the addition of 75 trees, shrubs and perennials.
More friendly and less mineral
Laurent Chevrot, director general of the Sustainable Mobility Agency, unveiled the main elements of the project to the elected members of the executive committee on Wednesday. He explained that his organization wanted to create a friendly and more pleasant space than a conventional parking lot, while setting up a mobility hub that brings together various modes of transportation in the same place.
“Today, it is a very mineral space, which is oriented for the use of solo cars for a large part. We want to give it a much greater landscape quality and reduce the footprint of the mineral component,” he explained.
Work will begin shortly and be completed in the fall. A maximum of two parking lots will be closed at the same time to allow permit holders to park.
The councilor responsible for active transportation on the executive committee, Marianne Giguère, however indicated that in her opinion, the City should provide secure parking lots or lockers for electric bikes and cargo bikes when it carries out such projects. “There are more and more people who have bikes that are expensive and very heavy. For anyone who doesn’t live on the ground floor or doesn’t have a yard, it’s really a limiting factor to have a cargo bike or long tail. We really have to integrate that into our offer as a city or as a borough, ”she recommended.
The elected also believes that a project such as that presented by the Agency still allocates a lot of space to the private car. “There might be a rebalancing to do. »
Reacting to her colleague’s remarks, the head of transport and mobility on the executive committee, Sophie Mauzerolle, pointed out that this was a first mobility hub project and that the Agency wanted to diversify its offer. She mentioned that the City was already working on a locker project for parcel delivery bikes.
The Sustainable Mobility Agency wishes to obtain the Eco-responsible Parking certificate from the Regional Council for the Environment (CRE) of Montreal for its first mobility hub project. According to the CRE de Montréal, the metropolis has nearly a million parking spaces for cars on its territory, half of which are on the street.