Mount Royal's road-blocking pilot project comes to an end. Will it be made permanent?

The controversial pilot project which blocked Montreal's Mount Royal to through traffic will end Nov. 1. Now, the city needs to decide if it will become permanent.

Since June 2, private vehicles have been prohibited from using the popular park as a shortcut between boroughs Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Plateau-Mont-Royal. 

Camillien-Houde Way and Remembrance Road — which connect near the Maison Smith to create a through street — were divided into two separate parts. 

The city installed signs and some makeshift barriers that partially blocked the roadway, but the transit route was still open to municipal and emergency vehicles as well as buses and cyclists.

This partial blocking of the busy road confused some and sparked defiance in others. Montreal police handed out plenty of fines to drivers who ignored the signs. Over 250 tickets were distributed in the first two weeks.

The temporary road structures will be removed Tuesday and Wednesday, the city said in an announcement Monday.

Montreal also built temporary facilities along Remembrance Road and Camillien-Houde Way — swings, benches and lookouts. The dismantling of those facilities will begin on Nov. 1 and it will take about two weeks.

Another round of consultations

The public consultation, hosted by the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM), will be relaunched on Nov. 8. That consultation will be kicked off with with the presentation of City of Montreal's assessment of the pilot project.

The OCPM will continue to receive submissions until the end of November and will submit its report in the winter of 2019, Montreal says. 

People looking to express their thoughts on the project are encouraged to share their thoughts on the OCPM's website.

The site's "online engagement tool" is only available in French, but contributions in both French and English languages will be considered, the site says.