Montreal Kicked Cars to the Curb and Thrived
September 5, 2024 8:01 AM Subscribe
Here, in our modest Canadian city, we make one of the side streets pedestrian only during the summer: there is a play park for children (the asphalt is overlaid with soft mats), a small stage for rotating musicians, interactive artwork, and lots of tables and chairs. It's really nice! There have been various calls to make one of the larger thoroughfares a pedestrian only zone--it faces the waterfront and sees a lot of tourist action--but obviously, drivers are not having it. (To be fair, one of our major bridges that linked downtown to the East End had to be demolished so traffic is more nightmarish than usual.)
I love it when urban areas do this. Montreal is really great for this sort of thing and it's one of the many reasons to visit.
posted by Kitteh at 8:16 AM on September 5 [8 favorites]
I love it when urban areas do this. Montreal is really great for this sort of thing and it's one of the many reasons to visit.
posted by Kitteh at 8:16 AM on September 5 [8 favorites]
His first move, in 2010, was to convert a two-way ten-block stretch of Laurier Avenue to a one-way to clear more room for pedestrians, cyclists, and community activities.
I'm curious what this looked like. As a general rule, one way streets are higher traffic speed, higher traffic volume and must more dangerous for pedestrians because drivers that aren't afraid they might get hit be other cars are even bigger assholes than usual. I assume the remaining one way street was narrow enough or obstructed enough that it still felt unsafe to drive at significant speed.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:29 AM on September 5 [3 favorites]
I'm curious what this looked like. As a general rule, one way streets are higher traffic speed, higher traffic volume and must more dangerous for pedestrians because drivers that aren't afraid they might get hit be other cars are even bigger assholes than usual. I assume the remaining one way street was narrow enough or obstructed enough that it still felt unsafe to drive at significant speed.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:29 AM on September 5 [3 favorites]
Here's the street maps view, jacquilynne.
Being passingly familiar with Montreal's pedestrian roads, I found the article really surface level. It would have been good to get a bit more information on either the political side or how these roads interact with Montreal's pre-existing closures. It's not uncommon for some roads to close for festivals, for example, and a ~3 block stretch of St. Catherine's street at Place des Arts has been closed during the summer for at least the last decade.
Still, I'm glad word of these is getting out.
posted by Orange Pamplemousse at 8:50 AM on September 5 [1 favorite]
Being passingly familiar with Montreal's pedestrian roads, I found the article really surface level. It would have been good to get a bit more information on either the political side or how these roads interact with Montreal's pre-existing closures. It's not uncommon for some roads to close for festivals, for example, and a ~3 block stretch of St. Catherine's street at Place des Arts has been closed during the summer for at least the last decade.
Still, I'm glad word of these is getting out.
posted by Orange Pamplemousse at 8:50 AM on September 5 [1 favorite]
Great article. I love visiting Montreal in the summer - these neighbourhoods feel so much more vibrant because of these changes.
A major impediment for these sorts of changes in Ontario, at least, is the fact that many of our cities are amalgamated with the suburbs. This makes a lot of sense in some ways, but critically it means that the urban core is overwhelmed by a suburban population that has very different priorities. As a result, our local governments are supremely useless at accomplishing anything. Montreal doesn't have this problem, the suburbs are separate cities.
posted by lumberbaron at 9:10 AM on September 5 [5 favorites]
A major impediment for these sorts of changes in Ontario, at least, is the fact that many of our cities are amalgamated with the suburbs. This makes a lot of sense in some ways, but critically it means that the urban core is overwhelmed by a suburban population that has very different priorities. As a result, our local governments are supremely useless at accomplishing anything. Montreal doesn't have this problem, the suburbs are separate cities.
posted by lumberbaron at 9:10 AM on September 5 [5 favorites]
“To use a technical term, it blew my mind.” … Flâneur-friendly
any article invoking this is a joy to me
any article invoking this is a joy to me
Walter Benjamin returned to the concept in an effort to better understand the cultural shifts taking place in modern urban society, in his Das Passagen Werk (The Arcades Project), which was written between 1927-40 and laid the groundwork for the beginnings of postmodern theory [artstory]posted by HearHere at 9:20 AM on September 5
I love that jacquilynne's Street View link shows a car just parking in the oncoming direction of bike lane. Drivers! Incorrigible!!
posted by kensington314 at 9:21 AM on September 5 [4 favorites]
posted by kensington314 at 9:21 AM on September 5 [4 favorites]
Put a human in a 2 tonne overpowered steel body suit and they act like they're playing MechWarrior. Every fucking time.
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:28 AM on September 5 [14 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:28 AM on September 5 [14 favorites]
i was just there, and someone told me "the cyclists went to war with the city, and the city lost"
Its hard to explain just how amazing the city feels as a cyclist, or a pedestrian, or to use the public transportation. It is a true shining example of how a city can be organized to serve human beings, and not cars.
posted by stilgar at 9:29 AM on September 5 [11 favorites]
Its hard to explain just how amazing the city feels as a cyclist, or a pedestrian, or to use the public transportation. It is a true shining example of how a city can be organized to serve human beings, and not cars.
posted by stilgar at 9:29 AM on September 5 [11 favorites]
Forward-thinking politicians must address the frustration of motorists who often overlook that pedestrians, cyclists, and transit users are taxpayers too.
This was the sentence that struck me the most. I am solely a pedestrian, no longer a cyclist (it just got too hairy for me to bike safely even here) and I happily pay my taxes. I also should be able to enjoy the city I live in without having to own a car (not that I could afford one, anyway); when you have options like this, it makes the city feel vibrant and alive.
posted by Kitteh at 9:35 AM on September 5 [6 favorites]
This was the sentence that struck me the most. I am solely a pedestrian, no longer a cyclist (it just got too hairy for me to bike safely even here) and I happily pay my taxes. I also should be able to enjoy the city I live in without having to own a car (not that I could afford one, anyway); when you have options like this, it makes the city feel vibrant and alive.
posted by Kitteh at 9:35 AM on September 5 [6 favorites]
Generalizing the car-reducing successes in Montréal to "Montréal" is a fallacy. NotJustBikes' take (skip 1/3 of the way in) is more accurate. The city has islands of urbanity which are great, but no consistency and a default autocentricity still.
Part of the reason is how decentralized the city is. Arrondisements (boroughs) are in charge of a shocking amount and have a lot of variety in their political appetite for change. So you get Plateau doing car free things and Auntsic doing not much.
The Ruelles Vertes (green laneway) movement is another example. Decisions made at a city block level, just by some carrot (funding for greenifying) and stick (snowplowing not done by the city) mechanisms.
posted by anthill at 9:37 AM on September 5 [8 favorites]
Part of the reason is how decentralized the city is. Arrondisements (boroughs) are in charge of a shocking amount and have a lot of variety in their political appetite for change. So you get Plateau doing car free things and Auntsic doing not much.
The Ruelles Vertes (green laneway) movement is another example. Decisions made at a city block level, just by some carrot (funding for greenifying) and stick (snowplowing not done by the city) mechanisms.
posted by anthill at 9:37 AM on September 5 [8 favorites]
Fabulous, Montreal! May we all follow suit!
My little New England town closes one end of one street in the summer to cars and it's very sweet. Tiny, but nice: outdoor seating all up and down, sometimes a food truck or two, a little bandstand space and occasional concerts, flowers in painted-by-local-artists planters. I would love to see more and year-round, too, both at home and elsewhere. Time to share an article with my ward councilor.
posted by carrioncomfort at 9:37 AM on September 5 [1 favorite]
My little New England town closes one end of one street in the summer to cars and it's very sweet. Tiny, but nice: outdoor seating all up and down, sometimes a food truck or two, a little bandstand space and occasional concerts, flowers in painted-by-local-artists planters. I would love to see more and year-round, too, both at home and elsewhere. Time to share an article with my ward councilor.
posted by carrioncomfort at 9:37 AM on September 5 [1 favorite]
The Ministere du Transports du Quebec is also a blight on Montreal since they control the many many urban highways and absolutely DGAF about anyone but drivers. They can't manage anything but car roads.
posted by anthill at 9:46 AM on September 5 [1 favorite]
posted by anthill at 9:46 AM on September 5 [1 favorite]
Montrealer here, and, hey, I live right off Av Laurier near the ten blocks mentioned! I've only been here since 2017 so I didn't witness the change, but I'd say it's pretty wonderful. I walk that area regularly and tbh, I'm more afraid of getting hit by a bicyclist than a car. The street is narrow and there is one stoplight halfway down, plus it's a stretch between two major thoroughfares, so there's often a good deal of traffic during the day and drivers don't have much chance to get up to dangerous speeds.
anthill is definitely right that it varies by neighbourhood here--downtown, the Plateau and lower Rosemont for example are havens for pedestrians and cyclists, but outer neighbourhoods, not so much (yet! there are plans afoot but it's the usual push and pull of trying to convert people who've been driving three blocks to the grocery store all their lives because the sidewalks are/were bad/nonexistent and are now uncertain of change.)
The article was a bit surface (pun intended?) but Toula Drimonis writes a lot of good stuff about the city and province and her book We the Others: Allophones, Immigrants and Belonging in Canada is one of my recent favourites that I highly recommend.
posted by kittensyay at 10:04 AM on September 5 [6 favorites]
anthill is definitely right that it varies by neighbourhood here--downtown, the Plateau and lower Rosemont for example are havens for pedestrians and cyclists, but outer neighbourhoods, not so much (yet! there are plans afoot but it's the usual push and pull of trying to convert people who've been driving three blocks to the grocery store all their lives because the sidewalks are/were bad/nonexistent and are now uncertain of change.)
The article was a bit surface (pun intended?) but Toula Drimonis writes a lot of good stuff about the city and province and her book We the Others: Allophones, Immigrants and Belonging in Canada is one of my recent favourites that I highly recommend.
posted by kittensyay at 10:04 AM on September 5 [6 favorites]
The city’s pedestrian revolution should set a new standard
The revolution will not be motorized
posted by notoriety public at 10:34 AM on September 5 [6 favorites]
The revolution will not be motorized
posted by notoriety public at 10:34 AM on September 5 [6 favorites]
Montreal has also done rain gardens and pockets of naturalized green space so well that, where you will see non-native invasive species in the cracks of most cities, milkweed sprouts from the sidewalks there. I've spent a good amount of time in Montreal, but it was my last visit when I truly learned to love the city, and it was precisely for the reasons mentioned above and in the article. That, and arriving to a family friend's Uruguaian folk punk set—with pan flutes—in a community garden as the sun set through the haze of wildfire smoke. I fully trust Montrealers I've met to take care of one another as dystopia becomes more evenly distributed; we could all be so lucky.
posted by criticalyeast at 10:35 AM on September 5 [5 favorites]
posted by criticalyeast at 10:35 AM on September 5 [5 favorites]
I'm curious what this looked like. As a general rule, one way streets are higher traffic speed, higher traffic volume and must more dangerous for pedestrians because drivers that aren't afraid they might get hit be other cars are even bigger assholes than usual. I assume the remaining one way street was narrow enough or obstructed enough that it still felt unsafe to drive at significant speed.
With the bike paths on both side it became quite narrow and traffic is not fast at all. Approaching the St-Denis/Laurier intersection on Laurier became a "avoid at all costs during peak hours" because there's so much foot/bike traffic on both sides its not uncommon for no car to be able to get through if the car at the head of the line wants to turn and is not assertive enough (this is Montreal pedestrians cross over the no walk light all the time). Without giving all the priority to cars, it would be reasonable to manage it slightly better to unclog Laurier.
Overall I'm super happy with the bike paths propping up everywhere in Montreal, never been shy of going in traffic or eschewing the main roads for one of the many smaller side streets, but it 100% changes where I'm willing to go on bike with my daughter.
posted by WaterAndPixels at 11:14 AM on September 5
With the bike paths on both side it became quite narrow and traffic is not fast at all. Approaching the St-Denis/Laurier intersection on Laurier became a "avoid at all costs during peak hours" because there's so much foot/bike traffic on both sides its not uncommon for no car to be able to get through if the car at the head of the line wants to turn and is not assertive enough (this is Montreal pedestrians cross over the no walk light all the time). Without giving all the priority to cars, it would be reasonable to manage it slightly better to unclog Laurier.
Overall I'm super happy with the bike paths propping up everywhere in Montreal, never been shy of going in traffic or eschewing the main roads for one of the many smaller side streets, but it 100% changes where I'm willing to go on bike with my daughter.
posted by WaterAndPixels at 11:14 AM on September 5
Also Mont-Royal becoming pedestrian only for long stretches is not a pandemic thing, but lots of other streets got their starts during the pandemic.
posted by WaterAndPixels at 11:16 AM on September 5
posted by WaterAndPixels at 11:16 AM on September 5
So you get Plateau doing car free things and Ahuntsic doing not much.
Ahuntsic is a Projet Montreal borough, Fleury closes for a week-end each summer, but it doens't quite have the attraction of Mont-Royal yet to close it more. A crap ton of bike paths have spawned in the last few years. And they're doing another set of REV lanes on Henri-Bourassa + the new fast bus service. It is changing, that NJB video while true is gonna be outdated soon I think, the pace is just accelerating.
It also a much easier pill to swallow in boroughs with acceptable public transit (metro or good bus line) & density. If you're further east, it's still a big mix of industrial zoning + suburb like semi-recent development, it'll be a while before they reach those levels.
posted by WaterAndPixels at 11:27 AM on September 5 [1 favorite]
Ahuntsic is a Projet Montreal borough, Fleury closes for a week-end each summer, but it doens't quite have the attraction of Mont-Royal yet to close it more. A crap ton of bike paths have spawned in the last few years. And they're doing another set of REV lanes on Henri-Bourassa + the new fast bus service. It is changing, that NJB video while true is gonna be outdated soon I think, the pace is just accelerating.
It also a much easier pill to swallow in boroughs with acceptable public transit (metro or good bus line) & density. If you're further east, it's still a big mix of industrial zoning + suburb like semi-recent development, it'll be a while before they reach those levels.
posted by WaterAndPixels at 11:27 AM on September 5 [1 favorite]
Put a human in a 2 tonne overpowered steel body suit and they act like they're playing MechWarrior. Every fucking time.
Man, a roof-mounted PPC would really solve a lot of traffic problems, I tell you what.
posted by ApathyGirl at 1:04 PM on September 5 [1 favorite]
Man, a roof-mounted PPC would really solve a lot of traffic problems, I tell you what.
posted by ApathyGirl at 1:04 PM on September 5 [1 favorite]
Man, a roof-mounted PPC would really solve a lot of traffic problems, I tell you what.
Things you should be legally allowed to shoot at....
-Double parked cars
-Bike thieves
-Drivers who are texting
posted by WaterAndPixels at 1:39 PM on September 5 [1 favorite]
Things you should be legally allowed to shoot at....
-Double parked cars
-Bike thieves
-Drivers who are texting
posted by WaterAndPixels at 1:39 PM on September 5 [1 favorite]
None of Montreal's pedestrianization efforts have had an measurable impact on traffic, which is worse in the city now than it has ever been. The key problem is infrastructure: Montreal is trapped in a continual cycle of road closures due to the reconstruction of streets, highways, and subterranean pipes that have been neglected for decades. The city will NEVER catch up.
It's also worth noting that Ferrandez left office a full five years ago, and that his most notorious pedestrianization effort - the closure of Camillien-Houde over Mont Royal - was an extremely unpopular failure that was rescinded once he left. It's currently back on the table in a different form.
It's difficult to find this context if you don't live in Montreal, or don't speak French and so can't read the city's primary news sources.
posted by jordantwodelta at 5:04 PM on September 5 [2 favorites]
It's also worth noting that Ferrandez left office a full five years ago, and that his most notorious pedestrianization effort - the closure of Camillien-Houde over Mont Royal - was an extremely unpopular failure that was rescinded once he left. It's currently back on the table in a different form.
It's difficult to find this context if you don't live in Montreal, or don't speak French and so can't read the city's primary news sources.
posted by jordantwodelta at 5:04 PM on September 5 [2 favorites]
The Ruelles Vertes (green laneway) movement is another example. Decisions made at a city block level, just by some carrot (funding for greenifying) and stick (snowplowing not done by the city) mechanisms.
Montreal doesn't plow the ruelles because it doesn't want to spend the money - not because it is using it as a "stick" to greenify them. The ruelle behind my Montreal property has had snow removal taken care of, finanically and contractually, by the residents for the past three decades. This is not a new development.
There was a fire on the other side of the street prior to my purchase, and because the citizens did not pay a contractor to remove snow, the fire department - which is a block away - was unable to position its trucks, and the building was lost.
Snow removal in the alleys is a safety issue, but one that Montreal's largest borough has washed its hands of.
posted by jordantwodelta at 5:08 PM on September 5 [1 favorite]
Montreal doesn't plow the ruelles because it doesn't want to spend the money - not because it is using it as a "stick" to greenify them. The ruelle behind my Montreal property has had snow removal taken care of, finanically and contractually, by the residents for the past three decades. This is not a new development.
There was a fire on the other side of the street prior to my purchase, and because the citizens did not pay a contractor to remove snow, the fire department - which is a block away - was unable to position its trucks, and the building was lost.
Snow removal in the alleys is a safety issue, but one that Montreal's largest borough has washed its hands of.
posted by jordantwodelta at 5:08 PM on September 5 [1 favorite]
I visited Montreal in 2011 and already thought it was the best city I'd ever walked in. I passed a group of performance students dance-battling a giant skeleton projected on a neighboring building. Then I was eating poutine at 10pm in a park... at a table next to a family with small children. As an American, that ought to have been unbelievable, except I'd just spent a couple of days walking around and feeling the safest I had in my entire life.
The decentralization is key, I think. I live in the Denver metro, where public transit is run by a coalition of counties and is consequently dedicated to suburbanites getting downtown. Our rail map is a wheel without a rim. I would love to tell the commuter counties to fuck off so that we can bring back Denver's original transit plan, but we'll never get out of the coalition.
It's really too bad that accommodations of non-car travel are pitched as reducing traffic, because induced demand essentially means your gains will just be soaked up by new drivers. That's not inherently bad for a city, but it IS false advertising. (But also: the INRIX report underlying jordantwodelta's linked article is extremely sus and doesn't really explain its methodology at all.)
posted by McBearclaw at 9:45 PM on September 5
The decentralization is key, I think. I live in the Denver metro, where public transit is run by a coalition of counties and is consequently dedicated to suburbanites getting downtown. Our rail map is a wheel without a rim. I would love to tell the commuter counties to fuck off so that we can bring back Denver's original transit plan, but we'll never get out of the coalition.
It's really too bad that accommodations of non-car travel are pitched as reducing traffic, because induced demand essentially means your gains will just be soaked up by new drivers. That's not inherently bad for a city, but it IS false advertising. (But also: the INRIX report underlying jordantwodelta's linked article is extremely sus and doesn't really explain its methodology at all.)
posted by McBearclaw at 9:45 PM on September 5
It's really too bad that accommodations of non-car travel are pitched as reducing traffic, because induced demand essentially means your gains will just be soaked up by new drivers.
I don't think that's how it works with close-by trips, especially when the space for non-car transport is acquired by repurposing car space. Other considerations like reducing the attractiveness of driving (in both absolute and relative terms) and inducing demand for non-car transport modes are all part of it.
posted by daveliepmann at 12:51 AM on September 6 [1 favorite]
I don't think that's how it works with close-by trips, especially when the space for non-car transport is acquired by repurposing car space. Other considerations like reducing the attractiveness of driving (in both absolute and relative terms) and inducing demand for non-car transport modes are all part of it.
posted by daveliepmann at 12:51 AM on September 6 [1 favorite]
Montreal doesn't have this problem, the suburbs are separate cities.Unforunately that's not the case. Montreal amalgamated with all of its on-island suburbs in 2002, which was only partly undone in 2006. And of course many other suburbs were annexed earlier, such as Saint-Michel and Pointe-aux-Trembles.
You can see in this map of our last municipal election results how many of the formerly-separate cities voted for the car-friendly candidate.
posted by vasi at 12:53 AM on September 6 [1 favorite]
More streets closed to traffic, more protected bike paths, more green curb extensions and wider sidewalks, more urban parksOne "missing middle" technique in North American urbanism (though not entirely absent) is the bicycle-priority street (NLD Fietsstraat, DEU Fahrradstraße, apparently new in FRA as rue cyclable ou vélorue, ENG bicycle boulevard). It seems like a tough concept to introduce, but that's precisely why I think it has potential to have subtle far-reaching positive effects on the culture on NA streets.
It's a simple idea: a street where bicycles (scooters, etc.) have explicit priority. Speed limits are low (20km/h?), requirements for overtaking are stricter, and it's explicitly allowed for cyclists to travel two+ abreast chit-chatting, to hell with the SUV behind them. Cars are forbidden from using such streets as shortcuts – they need to have an origin or destination on the street itself. This last is often disobeyed (particularly at rush hour) but usually everything works well enough.
The explicit inversion of power dynamics is strong medicine to car culture. Cycle-priority streets are literally training grounds for teach drivers to chill tf out, and a nice method for situations where cars can't be completely forbidden. I'd like to see this technique popularized and standardized in NA, with specific attention given to making sure it imparts the necessary mindset shift. (For a counter-example, I see overly wide greenways in LA that drivers speed down – this demands a response.)
posted by daveliepmann at 1:23 AM on September 6 [2 favorites]
(But also: the INRIX report underlying jordantwodelta's linked article is extremely sus and doesn't really explain its methodology at all.)
You'll forgive me if I discount the perspective provided by your one-time visit to Montreal almost 15 years ago as not all that useful in evaluating the current traffic conditions in a city I've lived in for a quarter of a century.
I drive in the city regularly. I assure you that the traffic situation is worse than it has been over my 25 years in Montreal. But if you don't believe that source, there are plenty of others describing the same problem. Here are some in English.
Critics urge action to ease Montreal's traffic congestion
Firefighters are losing precious time because of Montreal traffic
According to statistics provided by the Montreal fire department, it takes about 15 seconds longer on average for firefighters to arrive at the scene of a fire. In 2018, it took an average of four minutes and 59 seconds to arrive. In 2023, it took an average of five minutes and 14 seconds for firefighters to respond.
The number has dipped slightly this year to five minutes and 13 seconds for the period of Jan. 1 to July 16, according to the figures provided.
Guy Lapointe, a division chief for the city’s fire department, said road congestion is the main cause for the longer delays.
“It’s really the time on the road that has increased over the years,” Lapointe said. “The biggest reason for this is the sheer density of traffic congestion.”
Construction forced 94% of downtown Montreal streets to close, report says
Much of the congestion that routinely engulfs downtown Montreal stems from the city’s aging infrastructure.
Two-thirds of major road structures that lead to and from downtown Montreal — such as the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine Tunnel, which is undergoing a three-year revamp — require renovations because they were built in the 1960s or 1970s, the report says.
As of last fall, almost 30 per cent of key city arteries linking downtown to bridges, highways and other critical structures were partially or totally blocked because of roadwork, while one-third of the 45-kilometre-long street network in the city’s central core was “paralyzed” because of uncoordinated public and private construction works.
Traffic is so bad near the Montreal airport that people are getting out of their cars and walking
The wait has gotten so bad that taxi drivers say it has become a daily occurrence to see travellers hopping out of their vehicles, hauling their luggage the last few hundred metres — or more — to the airport, rather than waiting it out in line.
The airport, in a statement, said the traffic was caused by "soaring passenger traffic as well as roadwork that may take place in the surrounding area."
Opposition calls for better traffic plan around Royalmount
A day after the Montreal mayor called the area around Décarie Expressway one of the most congested in Canada, the opposition challenged her to do something about it.
On Wednesday, Valérie Plante said the traffic around the new Royalmount megamall, which opened on Thursday, as among the worst in the country, urging people to take public transit to do their shopping.
My Montreal property is quite close to Royalmount, btw. I've watched this disaster of a project destroy any semblance of driveability in the immediate area during its construction, and now that it's open - something the city was powerless to stop, despite repeated attempts - it's a complete disaster.
Montreal road work is a poorly organized mess, auditor general finds
Montreal's roadwork is poorly coordinated, auditor general charges
“The roles and responsibilities of all participants in project planning and operational co-ordination are not clearly defined, documented and communicated,” she said in the 400-page report.
The two city offices responsible for co-ordinating roadwork — the Assistance à la gestion des interventions dans la rue (AGIR) division and the Équipe de coordination opérationnelle (COP) — don’t communicate enough, resulting in situations where the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, Galipeau found.
On top of that, the 19 boroughs don’t always keep the city centre informed of upcoming construction projects, nor do other city departments, Galipeau said.
In her sixth annual report, Galipeau also scolded the city for its poor record on implementing her previous recommendations.
“For more than six years, the majority of commitments have clearly not been honoured,” she wrote.
“This situation is unacceptable,” she added, noting that some of the unfulfilled recommendations date back to 2009, under her predecessor’s tenure.
posted by jordantwodelta at 6:27 AM on September 6
You'll forgive me if I discount the perspective provided by your one-time visit to Montreal almost 15 years ago as not all that useful in evaluating the current traffic conditions in a city I've lived in for a quarter of a century.
I drive in the city regularly. I assure you that the traffic situation is worse than it has been over my 25 years in Montreal. But if you don't believe that source, there are plenty of others describing the same problem. Here are some in English.
Critics urge action to ease Montreal's traffic congestion
Firefighters are losing precious time because of Montreal traffic
According to statistics provided by the Montreal fire department, it takes about 15 seconds longer on average for firefighters to arrive at the scene of a fire. In 2018, it took an average of four minutes and 59 seconds to arrive. In 2023, it took an average of five minutes and 14 seconds for firefighters to respond.
The number has dipped slightly this year to five minutes and 13 seconds for the period of Jan. 1 to July 16, according to the figures provided.
Guy Lapointe, a division chief for the city’s fire department, said road congestion is the main cause for the longer delays.
“It’s really the time on the road that has increased over the years,” Lapointe said. “The biggest reason for this is the sheer density of traffic congestion.”
Construction forced 94% of downtown Montreal streets to close, report says
Much of the congestion that routinely engulfs downtown Montreal stems from the city’s aging infrastructure.
Two-thirds of major road structures that lead to and from downtown Montreal — such as the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine Tunnel, which is undergoing a three-year revamp — require renovations because they were built in the 1960s or 1970s, the report says.
As of last fall, almost 30 per cent of key city arteries linking downtown to bridges, highways and other critical structures were partially or totally blocked because of roadwork, while one-third of the 45-kilometre-long street network in the city’s central core was “paralyzed” because of uncoordinated public and private construction works.
Traffic is so bad near the Montreal airport that people are getting out of their cars and walking
The wait has gotten so bad that taxi drivers say it has become a daily occurrence to see travellers hopping out of their vehicles, hauling their luggage the last few hundred metres — or more — to the airport, rather than waiting it out in line.
The airport, in a statement, said the traffic was caused by "soaring passenger traffic as well as roadwork that may take place in the surrounding area."
Opposition calls for better traffic plan around Royalmount
A day after the Montreal mayor called the area around Décarie Expressway one of the most congested in Canada, the opposition challenged her to do something about it.
On Wednesday, Valérie Plante said the traffic around the new Royalmount megamall, which opened on Thursday, as among the worst in the country, urging people to take public transit to do their shopping.
My Montreal property is quite close to Royalmount, btw. I've watched this disaster of a project destroy any semblance of driveability in the immediate area during its construction, and now that it's open - something the city was powerless to stop, despite repeated attempts - it's a complete disaster.
Montreal road work is a poorly organized mess, auditor general finds
Montreal's roadwork is poorly coordinated, auditor general charges
“The roles and responsibilities of all participants in project planning and operational co-ordination are not clearly defined, documented and communicated,” she said in the 400-page report.
The two city offices responsible for co-ordinating roadwork — the Assistance à la gestion des interventions dans la rue (AGIR) division and the Équipe de coordination opérationnelle (COP) — don’t communicate enough, resulting in situations where the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, Galipeau found.
On top of that, the 19 boroughs don’t always keep the city centre informed of upcoming construction projects, nor do other city departments, Galipeau said.
In her sixth annual report, Galipeau also scolded the city for its poor record on implementing her previous recommendations.
“For more than six years, the majority of commitments have clearly not been honoured,” she wrote.
“This situation is unacceptable,” she added, noting that some of the unfulfilled recommendations date back to 2009, under her predecessor’s tenure.
posted by jordantwodelta at 6:27 AM on September 6
> One "missing middle" technique in North American urbanism (though not entirely absent) is the bicycle-priority street
In my experience, these only work well wherever they are solutions to overcrowding on the bicycle paths. That is to say: you need many cyclists too keep the cars in their place, or else drivers will treat the fietsstraat as their usual race tracks. Bicycle-priority streets can be wonderful things, but until you have that critical mass, you really need protected bike lanes.
posted by trotz dem alten drachen at 7:54 AM on September 6 [1 favorite]
In my experience, these only work well wherever they are solutions to overcrowding on the bicycle paths. That is to say: you need many cyclists too keep the cars in their place, or else drivers will treat the fietsstraat as their usual race tracks. Bicycle-priority streets can be wonderful things, but until you have that critical mass, you really need protected bike lanes.
posted by trotz dem alten drachen at 7:54 AM on September 6 [1 favorite]
Much of the congestion that routinely engulfs downtown Montreal stems from the city’s aging infrastructure.
That's probably a lie. As a whole in downtown there's more road obstructions due to private construction, but the infrastructure ones are often major.
Anybody who thinks all that work can be coordinated is fooling themselves. Too many constraints, too much unknowns, not enough leverage on the contractors to force them to do it on your schedule.
posted by WaterAndPixels at 8:03 AM on September 6 [1 favorite]
That's probably a lie. As a whole in downtown there's more road obstructions due to private construction, but the infrastructure ones are often major.
Anybody who thinks all that work can be coordinated is fooling themselves. Too many constraints, too much unknowns, not enough leverage on the contractors to force them to do it on your schedule.
posted by WaterAndPixels at 8:03 AM on September 6 [1 favorite]
My evaluation of INRIX's methodology wasn't based on my visit to Montreal, but rather my 16 years in research and statistical evaluation. I believe you that congestion is bad in Montreal, just not that it's somehow worse than most on a global scale. I certainly trust your long experience and sources when you say that it's because of underfunded road construction. That just doesn't have anything to do with pedestrianized streets, except as an example of why rebuilding cities to cater exclusively to cars was a terrible mistake.
posted by McBearclaw at 8:07 AM on September 6
posted by McBearclaw at 8:07 AM on September 6
My evaluation of INRIX's methodology wasn't based on my visit to Montreal, but rather my 16 years in research and statistical evaluation. I believe you that congestion is bad in Montreal, just not that it's somehow worse than most on a global scale. I certainly trust your long experience and sources when you say that it's because of underfunded road construction. That just doesn't have anything to do with pedestrianized streets, except as an example of why rebuilding cities to cater exclusively to cars was a terrible mistake.
It is bad, and actually much worse than it used to be. I can't find it right now, but the ratio of cars/person has kept going up faster and faster for the last n years and at the same time we keep removing lanes/lowering speeds and major underground infrastructure that needs updating sits under those roads.....
So congestion is up, the pedestrians streets have nothing to do with it (none of those are arterials), some of the major bike lanes are increasing it though. If you reduce a 3 lane 50km/h road to a 2 lane 40km/h you just lost about half the capacity and every fuck up in a lane removes half the of the capacity instead of a a third.
But it's still the way to go, more bikes, more transit, more walking, less cars.
posted by WaterAndPixels at 8:25 AM on September 6 [1 favorite]
It is bad, and actually much worse than it used to be. I can't find it right now, but the ratio of cars/person has kept going up faster and faster for the last n years and at the same time we keep removing lanes/lowering speeds and major underground infrastructure that needs updating sits under those roads.....
So congestion is up, the pedestrians streets have nothing to do with it (none of those are arterials), some of the major bike lanes are increasing it though. If you reduce a 3 lane 50km/h road to a 2 lane 40km/h you just lost about half the capacity and every fuck up in a lane removes half the of the capacity instead of a a third.
But it's still the way to go, more bikes, more transit, more walking, less cars.
posted by WaterAndPixels at 8:25 AM on September 6 [1 favorite]
I am always happy to see reporting on improvements to pedestrianisation but I expected more from The Walrus. This article is missing so much history and context.
The biggest improvements I've noticed for les rues piétonnes of the past few years has been in accessibility. Montréal has a long way to go to become accessible (for example only about one third of metro stations are accessible!) but is slowly making progress. This summer almost every closed road I enjoyed had ramps installed and most had accessible portable washrooms too. Of course it should be each and every one from the start, but its progress after a lot of advocacy.
We still do need more of an equity focus in transport planning, though it seems like that's coming slowly too, along with re-thinking transport as about the movement of people (not cars), focusing on Vision Zéro, etc.
posted by narcissus_and_ambrosia at 10:12 AM on September 6 [2 favorites]
The biggest improvements I've noticed for les rues piétonnes of the past few years has been in accessibility. Montréal has a long way to go to become accessible (for example only about one third of metro stations are accessible!) but is slowly making progress. This summer almost every closed road I enjoyed had ramps installed and most had accessible portable washrooms too. Of course it should be each and every one from the start, but its progress after a lot of advocacy.
We still do need more of an equity focus in transport planning, though it seems like that's coming slowly too, along with re-thinking transport as about the movement of people (not cars), focusing on Vision Zéro, etc.
posted by narcissus_and_ambrosia at 10:12 AM on September 6 [2 favorites]
trotz dem alten drachen, at least in my city Fahrradstraßen aren't used on main-ish thoroughfares like that Dutch example. They're on side streets, usually narrow ones that have never had bike lanes because one wouldn't fit without removing a car lane (parking or travel). Agreed about critical mass! At the same time, part of the point of this technique is to establish new norms.
posted by daveliepmann at 11:56 AM on September 6 [1 favorite]
posted by daveliepmann at 11:56 AM on September 6 [1 favorite]
I certainly trust your long experience and sources when you say that it's because of underfunded road construction. That just doesn't have anything to do with pedestrianized streets, except as an example of why rebuilding cities to cater exclusively to cars was a terrible mistake.
I specifically said, in my original comment, that the pedestrianization of streets had absolutely no impact on Montreal traffic.
posted by jordantwodelta at 12:12 PM on September 6
I specifically said, in my original comment, that the pedestrianization of streets had absolutely no impact on Montreal traffic.
posted by jordantwodelta at 12:12 PM on September 6
None of Montreal's pedestrianization efforts have had an measurable impact on traffic, which is worse in the city now than it has ever been.
One of the major metrics in those rankings seems to be the impact on commuters
We need to stop making things easier for mostly single occupant car use at the expense of literally all other options.
The wait has gotten so bad that taxi drivers say it has become a daily occurrence to see travellers hopping out of their vehicles, hauling their luggage the last few hundred metres — or more — to the airport, rather than waiting it out in line.
A few hundred meters? How will they ever survive?
Demand seems high enough that the airport could be wholly served by transit. Push your pick up/drop off out to the nearest transit hubs and run regular shuttles or trams. Making business travellers take transit might even be a lever to force transit improvements across the board.
posted by Mitheral at 6:05 AM on September 8 [1 favorite]
One of the major metrics in those rankings seems to be the impact on commuters
According to the rankings, Montreal ranked 30th in a list of over 900 cities, with 57 hours lost for commuters.to which *shrug*. Prioritizing commuters over the people living on the affected streets is unfair and illogical (and of course wildly unpopular with commuters).
We need to stop making things easier for mostly single occupant car use at the expense of literally all other options.
The wait has gotten so bad that taxi drivers say it has become a daily occurrence to see travellers hopping out of their vehicles, hauling their luggage the last few hundred metres — or more — to the airport, rather than waiting it out in line.
A few hundred meters? How will they ever survive?
Demand seems high enough that the airport could be wholly served by transit. Push your pick up/drop off out to the nearest transit hubs and run regular shuttles or trams. Making business travellers take transit might even be a lever to force transit improvements across the board.
posted by Mitheral at 6:05 AM on September 8 [1 favorite]
A few hundred meters? How will they ever survive?
It's easy to be sarcastic, but those 300 metres or so are on a road with no sidewalk, in a city where winter weather is real, and hauling you and your family's luggage through slush and ice while dodging cars and keeping your kids in line is not a trivial enterprise.
I agree that the airport should be served by transit, but other than a single bus line (which is sitting in that same traffic), it isn't, and plans for that to happen are continually delayed.
posted by jordantwodelta at 11:44 AM on September 8 [1 favorite]
It's easy to be sarcastic, but those 300 metres or so are on a road with no sidewalk, in a city where winter weather is real, and hauling you and your family's luggage through slush and ice while dodging cars and keeping your kids in line is not a trivial enterprise.
I agree that the airport should be served by transit, but other than a single bus line (which is sitting in that same traffic), it isn't, and plans for that to happen are continually delayed.
posted by jordantwodelta at 11:44 AM on September 8 [1 favorite]
a single bus line (which is sitting in that same traffic)
Slightly tangential but relevant to the broader thread: once you realize "buses stuck in traffic" is an affront to God Almighty, you'll never be able to unsee the injustice everywhere around you. Buses are meant to soar past traffic, not participate in it.
A properly functioning city has bus-priority lanes that are obeyed.
posted by daveliepmann at 12:54 AM on September 9 [1 favorite]
Slightly tangential but relevant to the broader thread: once you realize "buses stuck in traffic" is an affront to God Almighty, you'll never be able to unsee the injustice everywhere around you. Buses are meant to soar past traffic, not participate in it.
A properly functioning city has bus-priority lanes that are obeyed.
posted by daveliepmann at 12:54 AM on September 9 [1 favorite]
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