MOUNT ROYAL PLAN, TAKE TWO
Speed bumps, posts will slow traffic
Mount Royal, take two.
Mayor Valérie Plante, pilloried by critics last summer for banning through traffic on the mountain, on Wednesday unveiled a second attempt to curb cars and improve safety.
Drivers will be able to cross Mount Royal on Camillien-Houde Way this summer but, starting June 14, they will be slowed by plastic posts, speed bumps and flower planters, as well as traffic lights that will turn a small stretch into an “alternating one-way.”
“It’s not going to please everyone but I will not compromise on safety,” Plante said.
“If you want to access the mountain and take a nice drive, it’s not going to bother you to wait at a light because you’re there to enjoy the mountain. If you’re busy and you want to go fast, well, you may not like it but ultimately this is not going to be a highway anymore.”
The measures, which were generally well received, are temporary while the city works on a permanent plan to create a scenic cross-mountain route.
The key measures: Plastic posts known as bollards ■ will be installed in the Camillien-Houde median between Mont-Royal Ave. and Smith House, atop the mountain. Concrete barriers already in place will remain. Signs will tell westbound drivers that in order to reach the Camillien-Houde lookout, they should continue west and turn around in the Smith House parking lot. The aim is to prevent dangerous U-turns and drivers crossing oncoming traffic to reach the lookout.
The shoulder along CamillienHoude ■ between Mont-Royal and Smith House will be enlarged to give cyclists and pedestrians more space.
Flower planters will be installed ■ along Camillien-Houde to slow traffic and keep cars away from cyclists and pedestrians.
Traffic lights will be installed ■ to create a one-way section along a narrow, rock-walled part of Camillien-Houde just west of the lookout. Bikes and pedestrians will take the freed-up space, while drivers will be guided by traffic lights that alternate allowing cars to go eastbound and westbound. The city says the current setup — car traffic going in both directions simultaneously — is dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians.
Speed bumps will be installed on ■
Camillien-Houde to slow traffic between Beaver Lake and Côtedes-Neiges Rd.
The speed limit on Camillien-Houde, used by about 10,000 vehicles per day on weekdays, will remain 40 kilometres per hour.
Plante said she hopes to unveil a proposal for a permanent scenic route next year, after consultations with cemetery operators on the mountain, as well as Les Amis de la Montagne, whose mandate is to protect and promote Mount Royal.
Her Projet Montréal administration banned through traffic last summer after cyclist Clément Ouimet, 18, died following a collision with the rear door of a Toyota Highlander when the driver made an illegal U-turn on Camillien-Houde.
That ban — shepherded by former Plateau Mont-Royal Luc Ferrandez, who quit politics this month — was controversial, with 35,000 people signing an online petition against it and 8,000 endorsing one in favour. The public consultations that ensued drew record participation — 13,000 people took part.
Wednesday’s announcement came three weeks after the city’s public-consultation agency rejected the idea of completely banning through traffic.
Instead, it said the road across the mountain should be transformed into a slow-moving, tree-lined scenic drive “to enhance the Mount Royal experience and the discovery of its landscape, natural and cultural heritage while reducing and discouraging through traffic.”
Ensemble Montréal, the city hall opposition party, applauded the new temporary plan, saying this is what the Plante administration should have done in the first place.
Opposition leader Lionel Perez said Projet’s “ideological war on cars” led Plante to go too far last year.
“These measures will reduce speeds and increase the sense of security and safety for pedestrians and cyclists — that’s what most Montrealers always wanted,” Perez said. “We could have avoided the brouhaha, the antagonism that (last summer’s ban) generated.”
While supportive of the traffic calming, Les Amis de la Montagne warned some of the latest measures could exacerbate cyclist-pedestrian conflicts.
Many of them focus on protecting cyclists and pedestrians from cars, said Hélène Panaïoti, executive director of Les Amis.
But conflicts between cyclists and pedestrians are a growing problem on the mountain, she said. For example, it has been “difficult to get cyclists to respect stop signs.”
And under Plante’s plan, “pedestrians and sports cyclists will now be sharing the same lane,” she added, referring to the shoulder of Camillien-Houde and the paths along the new alternating one-way.
She said another worry is that the alternating one-way will slow city buses at a time when authorities should be improving transit on the mountain.
Two Société de transport de Montréal bus lines cross Mount Royal — the 11 and 711.
“Obviously, if there is a peak in traffic, it could slow them down a little bit but generally speaking, (the alternating one-way) will have no significant impact,” said STM spokesperson Isabelle Tremblay. ariga@postmedia.com