The mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, announced Wednesday that by 2029 the City would “green up Mount Royal for the equivalent of three football fields” by banning cars on the Camillien-Houde route, the main access to the summit.
On this artery, a promenade will therefore be created for pedestrians, in addition to a parallel and separate path which will be reserved for cyclists, detailed Mme Plante, during a press briefing at the foot of the large park. “We are going to completely transform the Camillien-Houde route […] We remove the asphalt, we put in trees, we put in plants. That’s what we do. »
The safety of “the most vulnerable in public spaces”, namely cyclists and pedestrians, was at the heart of the thinking leading to this project, she explained. The latter argued that we should “never forget” Clément Ouimet, an 18-year-old cyclist who died in 2017 after being hit by a motorist who was illegally making a U-turn on this artery.
Emergency vehicles, such as those of firefighters, police officers or ambulances, will however be able to access the Camillien-Houde route by using the cycle path, said the mayor. “We will not compromise on the safety of citizens. »
The modalities of this part of the project to ensure the protection of all, however, remain to be refined, said Richard Liebmann, director of the Montreal Fire Safety Service.
As for cars, Société de transport de Montréal buses and other motorized vehicles, they will still be able to reach the summit of Mount Royal, but via the west entrance, Remembrance Road. “Every weekday, there are 10,000 cars crossing the mountain and, of that, 85% do it for transit. So the message I am sending today is that the mountain is for everyone. But it is not a shortcut, it is a destination,” argued Valérie Plante.
Improve public transport to the mountains
The mayor said she was working with the STM to improve service on certain bus lines that reach the mountain. “It is important for us that it is easy to access the mountain, whether from the Mont-Royal metro, the Côte-des-Neiges metro, but also from the city center, where we would perhaps like to have Shuttle Buses. »
Improving public transportation to the “green lung” of Montreal is one of the main points to take into account in this project, believes the organization Les Amis de la montagne.
Ensuring access to Mount Royal for people with reduced mobility is also essential, believes the director of public affairs for Friends of the Mountain, Anaïs Légaré Morasse. “There are many details that will make or break the project. But we hope it will be a success. »
For his part, the leader of the official opposition at Montreal city hall, Aref Salem, is instead calling for the City to implement the recommendation made by the Montreal Public Consultation Office in 2019 regarding this artery. He then recommended that automobile traffic be maintained on Mount Royal, but that Camillien-Houde Way and Remembrance Road become a “pleasure path” in order to better integrate with the vocation of the park. In particular, he proposed that the track be narrowed and that the edges of the path be greened by planting trees.