Did Montreal's mobility mayor go too far on sharing the road?
Whispers of dissent gave way to full-throated cries of revolt as Montreal's mayor found herself in the firing line of frustrated motorists this year.
As the coronavirus confinement gripped the city, Valérie Plante introduced the concept of sanitary corridors in April — plastic poles installed along popular pedestrian streets to widen sidewalks and give more space for people to walk safely, separated from car traffic.
At first, there were few objections to the measures, which were seen as a sensible approach to foster social distancing. However, as the corridors multiplied and other pedestrian-friendly measures were instituted, citizens grumbled that Plante was taking advantage of the pandemic to wage war on the car.
Ste-catherine St. W. was closed to all cars, as was Crescent St. and Mont-royal Ave. In June, Plante pleaded with Montrealers to come and walk around downtown and support their local businesses. But those who heeded her cry found they were driving in circles, navigating a maze of pedestrian-only streets and road construction.
The frustration hit a fever pitch in July when Notre-dame St. W. was turned into a one-way street seemingly overnight, forcing buses to be rerouted, delivery trucks to be diverted, and eliminating all street parking between Vinet and Workman Sts.
Outspoken chef David Mcmillan called for an outright revolt.
“This is authoritarian government,” he said after posting a series of tweets calling on citizens to “take your city back in 2021.”
“Thank God we survived the pandemic. But now the city is trying to kill us,” Richard Bassila, the owner of New System BBQ, echoed.
The Notre-dame St. measure was changed the next day.
However, that appeared to be a turning point, and the mood seemed to sour against Plante. She was seen by many as the puppet master behind all the so-called anti-car measures, even those she had no knowledge of or control over.
In Notre-dame-de- Grâce, a bicycle path that removed parking on residential Terrebonne St. was polarizing. Cycling groups welcomed the new safe space. Residents decried the removal of parking spots in front of their homes without consultation or even warning. The pressure led to the path's removal just over a month after it was installed — and two months early (it had always only been meant as a temporary measure).
On St-denis St., merchants sent Plante a lawyer's letter, saying that construction of the permanent bike path — part of the Réseau express vélo, or REV — had temporarily removed parking spots and thrown the street into chaos, way too soon after a portion of the street had been rebuilt. The timing was terrible, merchants said. They had just reopened — and now the bike path would only be ready to use right before winter.
Plante seemed to fare no better with pedestrian safety groups. They questioned her commitment to adhere to Vision Zero principles to reduce pedestrian deaths, especially after an 84-year-old woman died after a hit and run on Sept. 10 at the intersection of de Maisonneuve and Décarie Blvds. in N.D.G. — the second pedestrian killed by a car in less than a year. Groups had been asking for years to improve safety in the area.
Heard far less often in 2020: complaints about delayed buses. That's because hardly anyone was taking public transit thanks to COVID-19. At its worst, ridership dipped 90 per cent. Planners of the Réseau express métropolitain didn't mind that — their closure of the Mount Royal tunnel in May did not lead to the predicted gridlock of commuters scrambling to find alternatives. In fact, few seemed to complain at all when work was delayed by another 18 months after century-old explosive material detonated in the tunnel.
The five-year Turcot nightmare ended in September, largely unnoticed, too. But that infrastructure project could give way to another in short order: a $10-billion train network to the east end, with stations built in the densest part of downtown over a six-year period, from 2023 to 2029.
As the year wound down, Plante seemed to be in conciliatory mode as she cancelled one-third of all infrastructure projects planned for the fall, and even provided free parking for holiday shoppers.
“Montrealers need a break — and stability,” Plante said.
Those measures also didn't please everyone. The free parking idea was criticized for coming too late to be of help to most businesses, and opposition leader Lionel Perez accused Plante of electioneering, saying her decision to cancel projects was an admission she “failed miserably” at fulfilling her promise to improve traffic mobility.