Montreal to restrict through traffic on Camillien-Houde
Motorists won't be able to use the popular cycling route to cross the mountain
The city of Montreal have taken a major step towards making the Voie Camillien-Houde that climbs Mount Royal a more enjoyable route to ride. The 1.6 km climb rises 120 m and is extremely popular amoung recreational, competitive and professional cyclists in the city. The new measures will prevent motorists from crossing the mountain instead limiting traffic to those travelling to the Belvédère Camillien-Houde lookout or the parking lots at Maison Smith and Beaver Lake.
The measures were announced five months after the death of Clément Ouimet who was struck and killed by a vehicle making an illegal manoeuvre on the road while on a training ride in October.
“There is no restriction for those who want to access park Mount Royal. On the other hand, those who want to transit through Mount Royal won’t be able to do it anymore,” Plateau Mont-Royal mayor Luc Ferrandez told the Journal de Montréal.
The measures announced on Tuesday are part of a pilot project that will begin in the spring intended to restrict through traffic on the mountain which will in turn reduce the number of vehicles on the road and make it more pleasant to ride by bike. Public transportation will also become quicker up to the park according to the city.
“There is a lot of work to do to reconfigure this street to become a park road, not a mini-highway in a park,” Ferrandez said.
According to Vélo-Québec, approximately 10,000 vehicles currently use the road across the mountain.
Last year, Clément Ouimet was struck and killed by a driver who did an illegal u-turn on Camillien-Houde. The driver who was from California was never charged by police. The city immediately put up better signage on the mountain but activists and cyclists hoped further measures would be taken to make the road safer.
Ferrandez also said that a future project will be reducing the width of the road to make it more accessible to walkers and cyclists.
