Rosemont-LPP not to pedestrianize
Rosemont-La Petite Patrie borough has decided not to pedestrianize its commercial streets after all, and will soon be withdrawing its corridors sanitaires.
Rosemont-La Petite Patrie borough has decided not to pedestrianize its commercial streets after all, and will soon be withdrawing its corridors sanitaires.
EmilyG 20:58 on 2020-06-08 Permalink
That’s too bad. Rosemont is one of the least pedestrian-friendly areas I know of in Montreal (of the areas I know well.)
Ian 08:22 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
I can see it, Mont-Royal is super crowded even at the best of times, is way more money, and has narrow sidewalks. Beaubien… not so much.
Kate 08:43 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
Masson might’ve been fine, though, at least between the tracks and boulevard St-Michel, the stretch where they used to hold their street fair. It’s a nice little urban commercial area.
DeWolf 09:42 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
It surprises me they are also withdrawing the corridors sanitaires but maybe this is to facilitate terrasses for restaurants when they reopen.
DeWolf 09:44 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
(Croteau mentions that businesses weren’t interested in “terrasses in the street” but I assume he is referring to communal terrasses, not private ones.)
Spi 09:56 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
Croteau was proposing Transit Malls, not fully pedestrianized streets. Transit malls stay open to busses and pedestrians can “occupy” the street between busses. It’s a bad in-between measure that in the context of Beaubien and Masson brought little improvement. You don’t close/occupy the whole street thus no clever social distancing design but you close enough of it to create a localized parking problem.
It’s one of those things that if they had bothered to develop a plan before announcing the idea they wouldn’t be looking foolish now.
Ian 11:06 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
…which makes me wonder if the Mont-Royal buses will get rerouted to (for instance) St-Joseph. That seems like the best plan…
Joey 11:27 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
@Ian I saw a FB notice from the Plateau saying to click a link for full details about how things will be adjusted to accommodate the pedestrianization of Mont-Royal. See for yourself what “full details” (“toutes les infos”) means: https://www.mont-royal.net/nouvelles/lavenue-du-mont-royal-devient-pietonniere-du-15-juin-jusqua-lautomne/
Spoiler alert – nothing about the 11 and 97 buses. My guess is they will run along St-Joseph and be able to access the metro station via Berri and Rivard intersections, which will remain open to cars.
As a Villeneuve resident I’m a little concerned that our street will become a parking lot or thruway, especially with southbound streets like Esplanade and Jeanne-Mance being turned around (and with all the traffic from Esplanade south of Mont-Royal routed right through to Villeneuve). I can’t recall the stretch of Mont-Royal between St.-Laurent and Parc ever being purposefully closed in my ten years in the neighbourhood. Doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of upside. Usually we only get loads of extra traffic when St.-Urbain is closed south of Villeneuve, so hopefully things won’t be too excessive.
Spi 13:04 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
@Joey This is the first I’ve heard about Esplanade and Jeanne-Mance changing direction. You mean they’ll both be northbound now?
The only problem this potentially solves is avoiding lost drivers driving to a dead-end when they reach Mont-Royal but that could just as easily be solved with temporary “cul-de-sac” signs at Villeneuve.
If you live in the area between Villeneuve/Mont-Royal/Park and St-Urbain and you drive the only way to get back to your residence is to take St-Urbain come back up Esplanade try to get through the miss-aligned intersection at Mont-Royal which has been a problem for years when those 2 segments of esplanade weren’t even connected. It makes no sense, the locals are just going to drive through the alleyways as many already do.
fliflipoune 13:21 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
Il y a eu beaucoup de confusion sur le « pourquoi » de ce recul. La raison est avant tout sanitaire: le document de recommendations pour l’aménagement urbain cet été spécifie des distances pour les terrasses de la rue. C’était impossible d’avoir cette distance, une terrasse et un autobus dans la rue. Les terrasses traditionnelles seront très difficiles, voire impossible sur une rue qui n’est pas 100% piétonne. L’arrondissement préfère alors ouvrir la rue à la circulation et mettre des terrasses partagées à certains endroits. C’est un ajustement à cause des restrictions pour le COVID.
Patrick 14:24 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
@Kate, agree with you about rue Masson. Nice vibe there, but are cars really much of a problem on that street?
Joey 15:01 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
@Spi look at the map: https://www.mont-royal.net/workspace/uploads/files/plan-de-pietonnisation-de-l-avenue-du-mont-royal_1.pdf Maybe you can figure out how someone is supposed to access Jeanne-Mance north of Mont-Royal by car, but I can’t (other than via the alley running parallel to Mont-Royal from Parc to St-Urbain, I guess)…
Spi 15:24 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
@Joey I’m really struggling to even understand the need to close Mont-Royal between Parc and Saint-Urbain. It doesn’t add a meaningful amount of public space when you’ve got the entirety of parc Jeanne-Mance right there. It’s not a stretch of particularly popular shops, I don’t see what the veterinarian/coffee shop/florist/ and mostly take out spots gain from it. Only Hà and Le Fillet potentially gain from expanded terraces.
Esplanade is about to get much busier, it’s a really quiet street now but all those park goers and picnickers that take esplanade hoping to find primo parking next to the park will be forced into your area.
Kate 16:51 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
Patrick, it’s not that cars are a problem on Masson or any given street, it’s that it changes the whole vibe of a street if you don’t have them. That’s why street fairs usually involve blocking motor traffic, and why sidewalk sales that don’t involve blocking traffic never feel like much.