{"id":375,"date":"2007-12-15T17:13:28","date_gmt":"2007-12-15T21:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingmontreal.ca\/?p=375"},"modified":"2013-01-21T11:59:56","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T16:59:56","slug":"keep-de-maisonneuve-closed-to-traffic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/12\/15\/keep-de-maisonneuve-closed-to-traffic\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep de Maisonneuve closed to traffic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/smurfmatic\/1539206716\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2396\/1539206716_07535349e4.jpg?v=0\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Downtown motorists will have to wait until March to drive down the block of de Maisonneuve Blvd. between Aylmer and Union, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cyberpresse.ca\/article\/20071214\/CPACTUALITES\/712140926\/5155\/CPACTUALITES\">the city has announced<\/a>. By then, it will have been six months since the street was closed, after bike path construction cracked a concrete foundation underground. Currently, pedestrians and bicyclists are allowed on the block, but it remains closed to cars, trucks and buses. <\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s an idea: why not keep <a href=\"http:\/\/maps.google.com\/maps\/ms?ie=UTF8&#038;hl=en&#038;msa=0&#038;ll=45.504924,-73.570499&#038;spn=0.001083,0.00294&#038;z=19&#038;om=1&#038;msid=113626023156661256108.00044159af5cac710905b\">this short stretch of de Maisonneuve<\/a> closed to traffic? Pedestrians, bikes, buses and emergency vehicles could still be allowed to pass through, but everyone else would have to make a detour, just as they&#8217;re doing right now. An inviting public space could be created behind The Bay, with benches, trees and a fountain. Traffic on de Maisonneuve would be calmed, since fewer drivers would bother to take the street, and de Maisonneuve would become more than just the downtown traffic funnel it is today. <\/p>\n<p>Since this block is already closed, drivers have had plenty of time to adapt. Keeping it permanently closed to cars won&#8217;t make much of a difference. Since drivers have already changed their habits, they&#8217;ll keep taking alternate routes instead &#8212; and a few might even be persuaded to stop driving downtown altogether. As you start making it a hassle to drive downtown, you begin to reduce the number of cars that circulate in its streets. Few parts of Montreal are as transit-accessible as the downtown core, where two metro lines, five commuter train lines and countless bus routes intersect. Rather than accommodating private vehicles, we should be restricting their use and reinforcing the quality of public transit and the pedestrian environment. <\/p>\n<p>Until recently, de Maisonneuve has been a particularly sorry example of Montreal&#8217;s auto-centricism. Even though the metro runs underneath it, there was little effort made to make it an inviting space for pedestrians. Garage entrances, blank walls, narrow sidewalks and one-way traffic all conspired to make it little more than the service corridor to Ste. Catherine&#8217;s high street. With the recent improvement of de Maisonneuve&#8217;s sidewalks, the installation of the bike lane and the development of new apartment towers and retail spaces along the street, things are beginning to change. For once, de Maisonneuve actually has the potential to become a real gathering place. Creating a new public space between Aylmer and Union would only help things along.<\/p>\n<p>The fissure created by the bike lane construction last September was an accident, but it has opened up the possibility of making a small but important step towards improving downtown&#8217;s pedestrian environment. Why return to the status quo?<\/p>\n<p><i>Photo by Cedric Sam<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Downtown motorists will have to wait until March to drive down the block of de Maisonneuve Blvd. between Aylmer and Union, the city has announced. By then, it will have been six months since the street was closed, after bike path construction cracked a concrete foundation underground. Currently, pedestrians and bicyclists are allowed on the<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/12\/15\/keep-de-maisonneuve-closed-to-traffic\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Keep de Maisonneuve closed to traffic&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7828,7839,3537,7842,103],"tags":[333,6,9,48,125,49,20,5,1415,45],"class_list":["post-375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bikes","category-neighbourhoods","category-parks","category-urban-design","category-walking","tag-cedric-sam","tag-cycling","tag-development","tag-downtown","tag-montreal","tag-squares-and-parks","tag-pedestrian","tag-planning","tag-retail-spaces","tag-revitalisation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Keep de Maisonneuve closed to traffic - Spacing Montreal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/12\/15\/keep-de-maisonneuve-closed-to-traffic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Keep de Maisonneuve closed to traffic - Spacing Montreal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Downtown motorists will have to wait until March to drive down the block of de Maisonneuve Blvd. between Aylmer and Union, the city has announced. By then, it will have been six months since the street was closed, after bike path construction cracked a concrete foundation underground. Currently, pedestrians and bicyclists are allowed on theContinue reading &quot;Keep de Maisonneuve closed to traffic&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/12\/15\/keep-de-maisonneuve-closed-to-traffic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Montreal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-12-15T21:13:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T16:59:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2396\/1539206716_07535349e4.jpg?v=0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Christopher DeWolf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Christopher DeWolf\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/12\/15\/keep-de-maisonneuve-closed-to-traffic\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/12\/15\/keep-de-maisonneuve-closed-to-traffic\/\",\"name\":\"Keep de Maisonneuve closed to traffic - 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