Les Actualités File photo
	Accidents like this and others involving pedestrians, cyclists and cars are frequent at this Marlowe Ave. intersection.

Traffic calming ideas for two busy city streets were discussed by thirty participants at a recent Montreal Urban Ecology Centre (MUEC) event.

One of the two Oct. 29 workshops organized by the MUEC’s Green, Active and Healthy Neighbourhoods program focused on southeastern NDG.

“The goal is to achieve a neighborhood where people can move safely by foot, bicycle or other active transportation means, while at the
same time calming traffic and giving residents better access to public transport,” said Pascoal Gomes, a communications advisor with the MUEC.

The participants at the workshop included city engineers, borough councillors, citizens, STM officials, as well as representatives from
community organizations and the public health department of the Montreal Health and Social Services Agency.

About 12 participants focused on the NDG project, which covers the section of Sherbrooke St. W. between Decarie Blvd. and Oxford Ave.

The challenge was to figure out how to reduce speed on Sherbrooke and make pedestrians and cyclists feel safe while maintaining its function as an arterial road, said Myriam Cloutier, an information officer at the MUEC.

“That was the question that was there from the start of the workshop - and also, how can we share the space among all the users?” she explained.

Six different proposals were floated, but the idea that gathered the most consensus involved five lanes, each with a specific purpose.

The plan proposed a 3.2-metre sidewalk on one side, with a dedicated bus lane next to it. There would be three lanes for cars, with the one in the middle functioning as the turning lane. Finally, the fifth lane on the other side would be dedicated for parking.

Cloutier said that the participants seemed to think that this proposal held the most potential.

“When you have [six lanes] people have a tendency to go fast,” she said. In this plan, “everyone has a place, and... everyone has space. Capacity is maintained and even increased.”

Three of the proposals will be refined, and presented to the community on Dec. 2, after which they will be developed further according to community input.

[Anja Karadeglija]