Jeanne Hamel walks on the sidewalk along boulevard Pie-IX, in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district, with Dazy, her little shih tzu dog. This 65-year-old retiree observes the six lanes of traffic where cars and heavy trucks speed by, in a deafening din.
As he approached rue Sainte-Catherine, which crosses the boulevard, he was overcome by stress: “We don’t have enough time to cross. You have to run, it’s not easy,” she said with a sigh.
For five years that she has lived in social housing in the neighborhood, close to the Port of Montreal, Jeanne Hamel has noticed that this intersection is one of the most dangerous in the area. Pedestrians have 22 seconds to cross the six lanes of Boulevard Pie-IX. The crossing gives cold sweats to vulnerable people: the sudden turns of vehicles, which come from rue Sainte-Catherine to turn on boulevard Pie-IX during the crossing of pedestrians, are part of everyday life. Pedestrian priority is only theoretical.
“There are often accidents. It drives fast. The other day, a car went to this from me! she says.
Jeanne Hamel is not the only one to shudder while walking in her neighborhood. Quebec cities are testing the resilience of seniors. Like everywhere in North America, the streets are designed for cars. The priority is to promote the “fluidity” of traffic. So much the worse for pedestrians, even more so for those who travel with a rollator (walker), in a wheelchair or on board an electric cart.
“The place of seniors and vulnerable people in the city is important. Unfortunately, these people are largely forgotten by urban planning,” says Mikael St-Pierre, urban planner and designer at the Montreal Urban Ecology Center (CEUM).
Still, there is hope. Cities and public health officials are realizing the need to age-friendly infrastructure. The aging of the population does not give them a choice. In 2036, a quarter of Quebecers will be over 65 (compared to 16% in 2011). In four decades, it will be almost a third.
The CEUM and the Regional Council for the Environment of Montreal (CRE-Montreal) will thus hold, at the end of November, a training day which aims to “promote active aging through an inclusive and sustainable built environment”. Around 60 participants are expected – mostly public health professionals who can influence the development of their city.
Goal of the operation: to develop friendly streets, so that everyone can walk to the medical clinic, the supermarket, the pharmacy or the library. Without risking having your ears grazed by a van.
“We keep telling the elders to get out, move, walk, but if the city is not designed accordingly, we may not be able to do it,” says Nilson Zepeda, project manager at the CRE-Montreal.
Political will
The election of a series of progressive mayors and mayors, in the municipal elections of November 2021 – and even before – is another encouraging sign for urban planning better adapted to the most vulnerable users, he underlines.
“The political will, we see it. The City of Montreal, the boroughs and regional cities are taking action because part of the electorate is asking for it,” adds Nilson Zepeda.
Former Plateau-Mont-Royal mayor Luc Ferrandez was a pioneer in making life difficult for motorists to make his borough safer for pedestrians and cyclists. Mayor Valérie Plante and her team continued on the same path. Even if it means sometimes making people cringe: some find that it does not do enough for active transport, others complain about the elimination of parking spaces to create cycle paths.
Medium-sized cities, such as Magog, Coaticook, Victoriaville or Drummondville, have also taken the turn towards universal accessibility in their own way, notes Hugo Quintin, project manager at the CEUM.
The ingredients for a vulnerable-person-friendly layout are well known, experts note. Islands, in the center of the wide boulevards, to allow pedestrians to cross in two stages. Wider sidewalks. Sidewalk projections at street corners to reduce the distance to be crossed. Slow down traffic. Clearly mark pedestrian crossings with flashing lights.
But also, for seniors: plant trees along sidewalks to provide shade on hot summer days. Install benches (in the shade) to allow for breaks. Remove obstacles (orange cones, traffic signs) that block the sidewalks. Thoroughly clear the sidewalks. Clear storm sewer outlets at street corners to prevent the formation of large puddles of water during snowmelt or rainy weather.
“health zones”
New initiatives are emerging: a pilot project of “health zones”, inspired by school zones around schools, will take place around three Montreal establishments that welcome the elderly.
This project aims to “better transform the surroundings and access to these three facilities for the benefit of a safer, more user-friendly and ‘walkable’ urban environment for all its users”, explains Mikael St-Pierre, from the Center for Urban Ecology in Montreal.
The CEUM and the Integrated University Health and Social Services Center of Centre-Sud-de-l’île-de-Montréal will test a series of strategies aimed at encouraging active travel around these three places are the Paul-Bruchési and Manoir-de-l’Âge-d’Or residential centres, in the Plateau-Mont-Royal, and the University Institute of Geriatrics of Montreal, in the Côte-des-Neiges– Our Lady of Grace.
Another solution is gaining ground among public health decision-makers: health impact studies for new urban development projects, modeled on environmental impact studies. Experts assess the effect of proposed projects on air quality, active mobility, heat islands, vulnerable people, etc.
“We can no longer develop cities as in the last century. It takes nothing away from motorists: by making room for active transportation, there are fewer cars, so fewer traffic jams,” says Mikael St-Pierre.