It’s time to rethink the distribution of public space
The only place you’ll find congestion in Montreal these days is on the sidewalk — or perhaps in one of the city’s popular and peaceful parks.
The usually notoriously jammed streets of Montreal are nearly deserted after almost six weeks of confinement measures to contain COVID-19, save for the odd car or bus passing by. Yet for the most part, we’re still constrained by the usual social norms that limit pedestrians to the sidewalks and give the roads over to drivers and cyclists. Even on pathways so narrow it makes passing another human at a socially safe distance a rather tight squeeze, this remains the case.
With so few cars in circulation and the need for Montrealers to keep apart from others while out and about, there are growing calls to rethink the distribution of public space in this city — at least during the pandemic and potentially after.
On some of its main commercial drags, Montreal already has taken action to relieve this foot-traffic “congestion,” which tends to result from lineups outside supermarkets or Société des alcools du Québec outlets. The city has established temporary “health corridors,” as these reappropriated strips of road are dubbed, erecting barricades along stretches of Mount Royal Ave., Monkland Ave. and Côtedes-neiges Rd., among other arteries.
These are welcome and necessary to ensure Montrealers can go about their essential business at a safe distance from others. But these minimalist passages are a rather cautious step for an administration that has prided itself on reinvigorating public spaces, from the borough level up to the central city.
There is perhaps good reason for this. In the midst of the COVID -19 outbreak in Montreal, Mayor Valérie Plante is nervous about the old “if you build it, they will come” mantra. She doesn’t want to create a destination that is mistaken as an invitation to Montrealers to come out of the woodwork.
So urban dwellers have sought refuge in parks for their daily constitutionals instead, prompting Plante at one point to threaten to close these precious green spaces if too many people flocked there or behaved irresponsibly. Since this warning, an uneasy peace has been established. Plante closed the parking lots on Mount Royal and Île-notredame to limit attendance. And a heavy police presence patrols parks on sunny days and weekends handing out tickets to those disobeying the ban on gatherings.
Still, as the weather warms and the urgency of isolation wears thin, there’s going to be more pressure on the parks as the go-to places for Montrealers yearning for fresh air. And as the reality dawns that daily life will not go back to what it was before the pandemic for some time yet — even as we approach the loosening of confinement measures — the city must prepare accordingly.
The Plateau-mont-royal borough council has announced that it intends to declare certain roads as “shared streets,” which is a concept where vehicles and cyclists must cede the right of way to pedestrians.
Speed limits will also be reduced to 20 kilometres per hour. This makes sense in a dense inner-city neighbourhood where space for all types of mobility is limited.
But Montreal also must take bolder steps to prevent inadvertent crowding in parks, accommodate, de-escalate potential conflicts between different users of cherished green space and help facilitate the recreational needs of city dwellers.
Joggers and cyclists have been needlessly vilified already for trying to maintain their sanity through activity by some pedestrians. who feel being overtaken at a fast pace is a threat. Montreal needs to recognize the physical and mental health benefits of exercise and create more room for it so people can spread out and work out safely.
The eerily vacant streets are the obvious answer.
Calgary closed thoroughfares to cars and opened them to runners, cyclists and pedestrians. Oakland, Calif., set aside more than 100 kilometres of roadway to create recreational corridors. (That has a much nicer ring to it.)
If it’s a question of resources, perhaps some of the police monitoring families in parks could be redeployed to man the barricades of this expanded commons.
Groups from academics to doctors to Piétons Québec have been calling for a smarter reapportioning of the public domain to facilitate — and, yes, maybe even promote — healthy habits in the age of COVID -19.
Premier François Legault himself has repeatedly touted the importance of a daily walk as a way to combat the confinement blues.
Plante needs to rekindle her usual creativity and find ways to make Montreal a more active and livable city — even in the midst of this pandemic.