A small change coming to a local Montreal road is creating a big controversy.
By the end of June, Montreal city officials plan to convert part of Rose-de-Lima from a two-way street into a one-way, northbound direction between Workman Street and Saint-Jacques.
The idea is to divert some of the heavy traffic away from Rose-de-Lima that are trying to access Notre-Dame Street.
“We are there to always make sure that the neighbourhoods are safe,” Montreal city Coun. Craig Sauvé told Global News.
But the decision is creating a lot of controversy.
Many people who work and live in the area fear that it will be much harder to attract visitors to the trendy Notre-Dame Street.
People will have to use Atwater street to get to Notre-Dame Street which is already heavily congested.
Or they will have to take du Couvent — a narrow residential street with an elementary school and playground.
“I know the streets very well. And all it does is divert the traffic, basically, the incoming traffic, to other places that are more sensitive, more dangerous to pedestrians,” Danielle Russell, a local merchant and resident, told Global News.
Peter Sergakis insists the city should have made Rose-de-Lima one-way southbound.
The holder of several residential and commercial buildings insists what the city is doing is bad for the bottom line of merchants.
“They are anti-business. They don’t care about the business,” he told Global News in reference to Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante’s administration.
But city officials insist what they are doing won’t hurt business and will make the area safe for residents and visitors.
The city eventually plans to rebuild Rose-de-Lima and make it more narrow and more attractive.
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