After months of deliberation, the Marchand administration returned to the 2019 scenario for the installation of the tramway in the Collège Saint-Charles-Garnier sector. However, the idea of a shared street, where the space and speed of cars are severely limited, was ruled out.
• Also read: Preliminary work on the tramway: soon return from the imposing construction site on Laurier
The City of Quebec eventually retained the “reference scenario,” which includes a streetcar track in the center of the lane, a train station with side tracks, and a car lane in each direction.
One lane will be maintained in each direction on René-Lévesque Boulevard and the speed limit for cars will remain at 50 km/h, we said at a news conference on Wednesday.
Mayor Marchand admitted that the choice of this scenario – and not one in which car lanes were completely removed – was guided in particular by concerns that motorists would increase traffic by taking streets perpendicular to René-Lévesque boulevard.
No common road
During the public consultations in April 2022, it should be noted that Scenario 1 – called “Reference” – included possible variants such as that of the shared road, which limits the space of the car. However, the variant of the common road was finally ruled out. The speed of the cars remains at 50 km/h because the 30 km/h limit only applies in the area of primary schools.
Image provided by the City of Quebec
Projection view of the Collège Saint-Charles-Garnier station in year 1.
Image provided by the City of Quebec
Projection view of the Collège Saint-Charles-Garnier station in year 10.
Bruno Marchand vowed that he had not been pressured by the CAQ government to abandon the common road hypothesis. In March 2022, the same issue of Shared Street in the Cartier Avenue sector had led to a spectacular showdown between the two parties with opposing views.
For his part, Daniel Genest, head of the tramway project office, explained that the configuration of the Saint-Charles-Garnier sector would not have allowed the establishment of a common road according to the same model as that planned for the Avenue Cartier side or in Saint-Roch.
Discarded Scenarios
Originally, the city of Quebec juggled three scenarios for Saint-Charles-Garnier. The reference concept, the withdrawal of the future tram stop or the withdrawal of lanes for a short section. But she quickly focused on Scenarios 1 and 3, which found similar popular support in citizen consultations.
According to the municipality, the decision used about fifteen criteria, including maintaining the priority of the tram, trees, road capacity, active modes and the living environment.
The chosen scenario
- Tram platform in the middle of the lane
- Train station with side platforms
- One lane for vehicular traffic in each direction
- 32 trees felled (i.e. the highest number in the scenarios that were on the table)
- Better compensation potential through planting
- Possible urban development (paint on the road, Unistone, etc.) in the integration area to calm traffic
- Using various technical criteria, this scenario achieved a score of 18.2 compared to 16.8 for the lane removal scenario
- Source: City of Quebec
what they said
- “We’re looking at the best-case scenario, period. Whether it’s the old administration, the new one, a different one, a Martian administration, who cares,” Bruno Marchand, Mayor of Quebec
- “It’s a return to the Labeaume box (…) All that for! I don’t want to be critical, but I’m wondering what the point was in having everything redone from scratch,” Claude Villeneuve, head of Quebec First
- “None of the three scenarios was favored by our political party,” Patrick Paquet, chairman of the Équipe Priorité Québec
- “I am disappointed but not surprised (…) It is a classic maneuver by Mr Marchand to mislead the population into proposing a scenario involving a shared lane and a space for bicycles and then subsequently denying it it existed,” Jackie Smith, director of Transition Quebec
Do you have any information about this story that you would like to share with us?
Do you have a scoop that might be of interest to our readers?