The construction of a future 652-seat elementary school on land adjoining the new MIL Campus of the Université de Montréal is causing concern among elected officials in the Outremont borough. They fear worsening road congestion as well as increased insecurity for young walkers in the neighborhood.
Outremont borough mayor Laurent Desbois says the future school “is welcome” in his borough. “It brings a lot of life and youth to the borough, and that’s positive,” he said.
The borough’s concern is linked to an expected increase in motorized vehicle travel around the future school, which is to be built in 2025 or 2026.
“The town center tells us that it will be mainly a walker school, a local school. We do not see how the school could serve the majority of Outremonters. We already have two public elementary schools, in addition to schools with special vocations, and the built environment of the borough is already done, there is not much opportunity for growth in Outremont. »
The borough believes that a good part of the schoolchildren will come from outside the borough, in particular from Mont-Royal and the borough of Saint-Laurent. This could mean “200 to 300” more motorized vehicles per day arriving over the Rockland overpass and using Ducharme Street, an already congested residential area that is difficult to access for walkers and cyclists during rush hour.
“We think it’s going to be chaos,” said Mr. Desbois. We want the city center to offer a safe solution so that walkers are not faced with a wall of motorists who do not make their mandatory stops, who are in a hurry, who are stressed. »
“We believe the solution is to pedestrianize Dollard. But the city center offers a solution where cars and pedestrians take the same path. We are stepping back in the safety of the most vulnerable, ”he said, adding that he feared that motorists would decide to drop off their child along rue Thérèse-Lavoie-Roux, where it is forbidden to stop or park.
Last year, the Office de consultation publique de Montréal noted that the problems of traffic and risks to the safety of students around the future school raised “serious fears”, and recommended to the City and the school service center Marguerite-Bourgeoys (CSSMB) to explore “other spatial configurations with respect to the positioning of École du Parc”.
Robert Beaudry, City of Montreal Councilor and member of the Executive Committee, points out that the École du Parc project offers an “incredible opportunity to completely transform the sector” for the benefit of citizens and families.
Mr. Beaudry says that arrivals by car will not be as numerous as the borough fears. However, some parents will want to come by car and drop off their child safely as close to the school entrance as possible, he said.
“We want to develop school streets, but in this context, it took the children away from the drop-off point. And then you had to install a big rotisserie [Editor’s note: roundabout] which added a lot of blind spots, and it becomes extremely accident-prone. »
The chosen scenario is that of the shared street, says Mr. Beaudry. “We want a quiet street, with greenery, comfortable for the walker. We want to come up with something safe,” he said, adding that public consultations on the project will take place at the beginning of May, and that the option chosen by the City of Montreal has received the support of the CSSMB.
“We did serious work, upstream, with the borough, with the civil servants. We want the most coherent project with the place of insertion. »
