Some councillors want to follow Montreal's lead on pedestrian streets

A stretch of avenue du Mont-Royal, pictured on Sept. 23, 2020, is one of the 10 streets in Montreal that were once again turned into a pedestrian-only zone this summer. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)

Montreal's effort to energize busy commercial streets by closing them to vehicles is inspiring some Ottawa city councillors to think about whether the experiment could work here.

Knoxdale-Merivale Coun. Sean Devine has been approaching his downtown colleagues to talk about when and where it could happen.

"I would like to commit to having some kind of pilot manifested during my term in office here," he said in an interview last month.

Montreal has cut off vehicle traffic on 10 streets, including popular thoroughfares like rue Wellington and avenue du Mont-Royal, reserving them for pedestrians and active transportation during the warm months.

Devine sees it as a transformation of public space that draws crowds of people to revitalize local businesses.

Knoxdale-Merivale Coun. Sean Devine attends a city council meeting in May 2023. (Jean Delisle/CBC)

But as an acrimonious debate over the National Capital Commission's closure of a small stretch of Queen Elizabeth Driveway drags on, he admits Ottawa might be a tougher sell.

"Clearly, there's a different level of enthusiasm and perception about these kinds of things in Ottawa," he said.

"I know these are not the kinds of things I can just snap my fingers and make happen."

Quick timeline meets skepticism

Devine's inner suburban ward has few candidates with the kind of density and pedestrian friendly streetscapes he has in mind.

That led him to float options in other wards, including Wellington West, Elgin, Somerset and Bank streets. The latter two opened to patios and pedestrians in some stretches earlier in the pandemic and Somerset still does.

He was initially proposing a pilot program as early as next summer. While he found support in principle from downtown councillors, he also met with skepticism about his timeline.

Somerset Coun. Ariel Troster said she loves Montreal's approach to pedestrian streets. In a flurry of social media posts, she gushed about what she saw there in a recent visit. "So much inspiration to bring back to Ottawa," she wrote.

"Busy crushing on Montreal's fully pedestrianized canal waterfront," she said in another post.

Somerset ward councillor Ariel Troster poses for a photograph at the corner of Gladstone Avenue and Rochester Street. (Ben Andrews/CBC)

She fears that Devine's push might have "jumped the gun" as Ottawa sorts out urgent transportation issues such as the LRT debacle and cyclist safety, as well as crises over housing and homelessness.

She said those "burning issues" need to be addressed before moving on to what she called grand urban experiments.

"In terms of a pilot project for next summer, I don't know if we're there yet," she said in an interview. "That's great in theory. In practice, we really need to bring the community on board."

Somerset business 'beyond stoked' at idea

At least some Centretown businesses are already on board.

"The businesses on our street would be excited about that," said Ivan Gedz, who owns bar Union Local 613 and heads the Somerset Village BIA for the block of Somerset between Bank and O'Connor streets.

"We would be beyond stoked."

That stretch of Somerset currently closes to traffic for parts of Thursday to Sunday, opening up more room for patios and people. Gedz wants to see it happen seven days a week.

"We can see from Montreal how well it's working," he said. "It's not just for restaurants and nightclubs. It's people being able to walk and live in their city and enjoy it."

People eat and drink at tables set up on a stretch of Somerset Street West closed to cars on July 3, 2021. (Trevor Pritchard/CBC)

Repeatedly tearing down patios after every weekend is "a tremendous amount of labour," he said. In his view, a more permanent program would make it easier to transform Somerset into a vibrant public space.

"We'd be able to do a lot more beautifying of the street, lights overtop like you've seen in many places in Montreal," he said. "We could have a stage set up, community craft fair, the possibilities are endless."

Asked when it should happen, Gedz didn't hesitate: "tomorrow."

Opponents 'going against the current,' says Devine

Just to the south in Capital ward, Coun. Shawn Menard said Montreal's example is "obviously" something he'd like to see Ottawa experiment with, though the headwinds could be fierce.

"There's a lot of people in this city that hate it when you take away any driving space, so that's a difficult battle to fight," he said. "It's not easy to make that kind of change."

He proposed moving forward by small increments, potentially including more weekend pedestrianization. In his own ward, Menard thinks it could make sense to shut down traffic within Lansdowne Park.

"I hope that we can have some bigger conversations in Ottawa about pedestrianization, just like Montreal has had, but the politics in Ottawa are different," said Menard. "I think it's a harder sell here, but I'm hopeful."

Devine, who like Troster is a member of the city's 12-person transportation committee, acknowledged a 2024 pilot project might be optimistic but he thinks he has the force of contemporary urban planning on his side.

"I am not seeing anyone saying 'Let's make it easier for cars to get around and let's make it easier to have free-flowing traffic,'" he said, referring to expert opinion.

"Those who are expressing concerns about impeding vehicle traffic, I think they're going against the current."