The City of Quebec is committed to developing no less than 150 kilometers of bicycle-city corridors (CVC) over the next ten years. From Val-Bélair to Chutes-Montmorency to the airport, 14 corridors must be created between the center and the outskirts.
Like Montreal’s express bike network (REV), the CVC aims to make cycling accessible and safe to as many people as possible.
“This is not a network for cyclists, it is for all citizens,” declared the mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand, during a press briefing on Tuesday.
The City thus wishes to attract onto the track the seven-year-old like the 77-year-old. She emphasizes that between 51% and 56% of the population will use the network only if it is secure.
This announcement is not accompanied by new investments. The City had already announced that it planned to devote $95 million to this new bicycle network. But this is the first time that it presents the location of all future CVCs.
A first HVAC is currently under construction between the Charlesbourg sector and the St-Roch district. With a length of approximately 9 kilometers, it must be completely deployed by 2026. Two others will follow in 2025 and 2026, first in the Vanier-Lebourgneuf-Saint-Émile axis, then in Beauport.
No “car war”
One of the corridors, the one which crosses the territory of Haute-Saint-Charles, is already practically existing since it corresponds to the Cheminots corridor.
Concerning who will join the airport, the mayor and his team mention that it is not so much aimed at travelers as workers in the sector and residents of the town of L’Ancienne-Lorette, right next door.
The corridors will not be deployed one by one, city representatives pointed out, but in sections depending on the underground infrastructure work planned in the area. Consultations will be organized locally to survey the population on the routes. This is also currently the case in the Limoilou district, where citizens must choose between traveling on the 3e or 4e Street.
Apprehending the criticism, the mayor warned that he was not waging “a car war”. Adding cyclists to CVCs, he pointed out, will free up traffic space for those who stay in their cars.
More details will follow.