Sector of Old Montreal to become pedestrian-only next year as part of green city initiative

Montreal wants the historic neighbourhood of Old Montreal to be a "place where the pedestrian is king" and it will begin closing off streets to traffic next year, Mayor Valérie Plante announced Tuesday.

As part of the city's plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, a portion of Old Montreal will be made pedestrian-only in 2024 and the city will work with neighbourhood businesses and stakeholders on to how to make the transition and to gradually expand the pedestrian area over the years, she said at the city's second climate summit.

The opposition criticized the city for not specifying which streets would become pedestrian-only and not consulting businesses ahead of the announcement.

Karel Mayrand, the CEO of the Foundation of Greater Montreal and the co-president of the Montreal Climate Partnership, says it "makes sense" to turn part of Old Montreal into a pedestrian area because it attracts a lot of tourists.

"Traffic in Old Montreal was just insane," he said.

"I think it's the right solution and it's feasible because it's a neighbourhood where you can adapt things and it will be more attractive to tourists and to Montreal. It's been done elsewhere."

Can the city meet its targets?

With Montreal's greenhouse gas reductions having stalled in the last few years, experts aren't convinced the city's plans will allow it to meet its ambitious targets — a 55 per cent reduction from 1990 levels.

"The estimates of greenhouse gas emissions that you will get reductions, for example with pedestrians using one or two streets, is not big. But it's something good for the well-being of the people there," said Ahmed Elgeneidy, a professor of urban planning at McGill University.

"It's not going to be huge. It will impact emissions, it will impact particular matters in the area, but not the GHG as much."

Elgeneidy said that for greenhouse gas emissions to be dramatically reduced, much bigger steps must be taken — like regulating major polluting industries. But, he said, the city doesn't have the power to do that.

"So it's the upper levels of government who have to make such decisions. The city is trying to do what they can with what they have," Elgeneidy said.

Decarbonizing transportation

The mayor also announced two other plans to accelerate the decarbonization of transportation in the city by 2040, including a sustainable transit corridor along Henri-Bourassa Boulevard — which was first announced in October 2021.

A stretch in Ahuntsic-Cartierville will be the first street to have both a rapid bus lane and a Réseau Express Vélo bike path. The head of the STM, Eric Allan Caldwell, says it will be done in three years.

The city is also planning to improve the efficiency of freight transport by expanding projects like the Colibri mini-hubs, which use cargo bikes or small electric vehicles to take parcels on the final leg of their delivery route.

Plante said she hopes this will improve road sharing with cyclists and pedestrians.

"Our plan for decarbonizing transport is ambitious but realistic," said Plante.

"Above all, it is more necessary than ever. We will continue to transform Montreal's neighbourhoods to make it a green, safe and friendly city."

Mark Purdon, a professor and holder of the decarbonization chair at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), says Montreal needs to do more modelling to find the most efficient way to make the city more environmentally friendly.

"One complication is that a lot of the challenges with transportation emissions is vehicle traffic isn't necessarily grounded in [the] Montreal urban agglomeration," he said.

Purdon says increasing urban densification will be key to tackling climate change, but that it will be very difficult to accomplish by 2030.

He says public transit alone doesn't significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions "because people are stuck in their homes in the suburban landscape."

"People are just going to keep using their cars if they have to drive 15 minutes to buy their groceries," said Purdon.

"There's a lot of innovation going on, but is it enough? And how do we know if it's enough if we're not really measuring things?"