Park La Fontaine: a new plan without the cars and the bikes

Archival Photo Pierre-Paul Poulin

Sarah Daoust-Braun

Tuesday, 20 march, 2018 16:14

UPDATE
Tuesday, 20 march, 2018 19:30

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MONTREAL – City of Montreal cross the road for cars and cyclists around the park and The Fountain within the next few years to make more room for pedestrians.

The administration of Valérie Plante will present Tuesday night in its new master plan, which extends over a period of 15 years, to rejuvenate the famous park opened in the 19th century.

It provides, among other things, the closure to car traffic of the avenue Émile-Duployé by 2033, just as the piétonnisation full of the avenue Calixa-Lavallée, already partially blocked. The two routes will turn into big walks inland. The metropolis also intends to reduce the number of parking spaces.

“Émile Duployé, it is a street all busy about which passes a bus [the circuit 45]. It is necessary to take the time to see how to anchor it all,” said Tuesday the mayor, who wants to go step by step.

Marie-André Fog, a motorist used the park, The Fountain, is concerned that the drivers would be penalized by having less space where to park. “If we must develop something to open areas to relax, design-thinking to all users, not just pedestrians,” she argued.

According to Tommy Tremblay, the group’s citizen of the Future Park, The Fountain, the closure of the avenue Émile-Duployé will rather enhance the value of the area is the park, for the moment abandoned. “A park is a park, not a transit route for cars and cyclists,”-he said.

The bike path moved

Montreal has the intention to move within five years, the bike path, located at the west end of the site, directly in the avenue du Parc-La Fontaine, which will go from three lanes to two. The project will be initially temporary, then permanent.

“This is one of the tracks most used in the north-south axis. We want the move to ensure that pedestrians, runners, cyclists coexist better,” said Valérie Plant during a press conference.

“I would tend to put a cycle track in the middle of the park, in the countryside, rather than placing it in the concrete,” retorted Manual Laforme-Salvail, which leads to the park every day.

The mayor has defended itself by ensuring that cyclists could cross the park, although no transverse runway is not officially arranged.

Other measures

The plan provides for several measures to make the park The Fountain “jardin du Luxembourg” in Montreal, as specified in in February the head of the great parks, Luc Ferrandez.

The administration wishes to set-up all around the perimeter of the park in “sidewalks of boulevards” where pedestrians can stroll in peace.

The construction of a terrace-bistro behind the chalet, the reconstruction of the theatre and the renovation of the basins and the luminous fountain are also on the program.

The master plan is a result of the extensive citizen consultation carried out on the subject in 2016. Discussion groups will be organized the 17 and 18 April and the final plan will be adopted in the summer.