Experts hope to reroute debate on traffic

Stakeholders work to end polarization on contentious plan to eliminate traffic

Duelling petitions, angry citizens and a polarizing Twitterstorm.

How did Montrealers become so divided over plans by Mayor Valérie Plante’s administration to close Mount Royal to through traffic this summer?

Now community groups and other stakeholders are working behind the scenes to rebuild consensus on the future of transportation on the mountain.

“The debate got off to a weird start,” said Daniel Chartier, a former landscape architect for the city who was responsible for Mount Royal.

“Through traffic versus no through traffic: I find it unfortunate that the debate is just focused on that.

“It’s polarizing the public by getting them to choose one side or the other, while there are essential changes that should be made on which there is widespread consensus.”

For example, while many Montrealers oppose the idea of totally shutting down through traffic on Mount Royal, few would dispute that measures should be taken to slow and reduce traffic and to make the park safer for cyclists and pedestrians, he said.

Chartier is among the experts and advocates who are trying to instigate a more helpful dialogue in the wake of the announcement two weeks ago by Luc Ferrandez, the executive committee member responsible for large parks, that the city is planning a pilot project to block crosstown traffic on the mountain.

Last Wednesday, city officials met with a committee of the Table de concertation du Mont-Royal — representing universities, hospitals, boroughs, municipalities and community groups bordering on or involved with the mountain — to consult members on the issue.

And on Tuesday, Les amis de la montagne will meet to try to chart a way forward from what most agree has been a divisive start to the Plante administration’s efforts to make the mountain greener and safer.

What’s unfortunate, advocates and experts said, is that Ferrandez’s surprise announcement has alienated many allies who have been calling for traffic-calming initiatives on the mountain for years.

For example, Les amis de la montagne, a non-profit organization whose mandate is to protect and promote Mount Royal, said the plan could create more problems than it solves.

“Our concern is if we have isolated measures for Camillien-Houde Way, this will intensify other security and safety issues for vulnerable users like pedestrians and cyclists on and around the mountain,” Hélène Panaïoti, the organization’s director of communications, advocacy and community engagement, said two weeks ago.

Rather than building on things most Montrealers agree on — for example, improving public transportation and pedestrian access to the mountain — the debate has pitched those who bemoan the loss of one of the city’s prettiest drives against those who note that rushhour traffic is choking the mountain, experts say.

Jean Décarie, a retired urban planner for the city, said Ferrandez alienated many by announcing the shutdown point blank.

“He should have said, ‘We’re thinking of closing it and we’re going to do some studies and consultations to see how we can do it,” Décarie said.