Downtown to be even more pedestrian
24th October 2008
The experimental closing of Ste. Catherine St. E. through the Gay Village this summer was such a success, the pedestrian mall will be resurrected again next summer, and lengthened, Ville Marie borough mayor Benoit Labonté announced yesterday.
The results of an independent survey indicated that merchants, residents and visitors had an overwhelmingly positive experience, Labonté revealed.
He also announced that the mall on Ste. Catherine from Berri St. to Papineau Ave. will probably be extended west into the Quartier des Spectacles, meaning pedestrians will rule between Bleury St. and Papineau.
"It's not if we do it, it's how we will do it," Labonté said.
Ste. Catherine St. was closed to traffic (excluding emergency vehicles) from June 19 to Sept. 3, including the set-up and break- down of the temporary terraces. Delivery trucks were permitted in the area only between 7 and 10:30 a.m.
With the various festivals in and around the Quartier des Spectacles, the portion of Ste. Catherine between Berri and Bleury was closed 51 of those 77 days.
"It would be a natural extension to join the two poles of Quartier des Spectacles and the Gay Village," Labonté said.
Tramway route was only a suggestion: Montreal's executive committee has begun a process of looking at the users, the network and the route of a proposed new tramway to serve downtown, the Old Port and the Quartier des Spectacles, said André Lavallée, the city's executive committee member in charge of urban planning and transit.
Responding to an article in yesterday's Le Devoir that said the city is looking at closing Ste. Catherine St. to traffic all the way to Atwater Ave. and installing a tramway there, Lavallée said that was just one of the suggestions that have been made by the general public and certainly not a fait accompli.
"People think Ste. Catherine St. is a nice idea but we are already on top of a subway there," Lavallée said.
"This study is just a first step in the implementation of the idea of a tramway in downtown Montreal."
Source: The Gazette