The death of young Clément Ouimet on October 4 shook the entire cycling community in Montreal and across Quebec. The illegal manoeuvre by a motorist, which led to the fatal collision, sparked debate about the fact that Chemin Camillien-Houde has become a veritable highway in the middle of the city, and, what's more, in a park that Montreal would like to see listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. With almost 12,000 vehicles using Chemin Camillien-Houde every day, most of them to get from one part of the city to another, we're a long way from the spirit of Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of Mount Royal Park in 1874, who was convinced of the therapeutic function of nature on humans.
The idea of restricting and even stopping through traffic on Chemin Camillien-Houde is not new. In the 1950s, a New York firm commissioned to modernize the park's facilities expressed reservations about car access to the mountain. In 1990, under Jean Doré, a public consultation on the enhancement of Mount Royal highlighted the importance of holding activities on the mountain that were compatible with its natural environment. At that time, it was also recommended that through traffic on Camillien-Houde and Remembrance lanes be interrupted by the creation of two «distinct terminal loops» on the summit of the mountain, with free access for buses and emergency vehicles.
For several years now, we have been telling the City of Montreal that the’Camillien-Houde highway is no longer relevant. That the mountains are a unique place for training and fitness for cyclists of all calibres, a magnificent illustration of the Montreal, physically active! In this respect, we planted the idea of Cyclovia on the mountain several years ago with successive elected members of the executive committee. Today, we're asking the Montreal administration, the day after the election, to put an end to through-traffic on Camillien-Houde and to modernize access to Mount Royal by public transit so that we can return, as early as spring 2018, to the spirit of Frederick Law Olmsted. Quietness on the mountain and the safety of its users must become a priority.
Suzanne Lareau
President and General Manager