A slew of new traffic-calming measures are coming to central Montreal after a young girl was killed in a hit and run while walking to school last year.
The Ville-Marie borough will overhaul some streets, close others and add more than 100 speedbumps to slow drivers down as part of the plan.
Sophie Mauzerolle, city councillor for the downtown borough and the city’s executive committee member responsible for mobility, said it comes down to making the area safer.
“Unfortunately we’ve seen in the past months a big increase of collisions on our streets,” Mauzerolle told reporters Thursday. “There are a lot of deaths, a lot of serious accidents.”
The changes come amid repeated calls for better safety measures in the area after the death of seven-year-old Mariia Legenkovska, a Ukrainian refugee. She was fatally struck while was walking to school on the morning of Dec. 13, 2022. The driver, who fled the scene and later turned himself in to police, was charged with failing to stop after an accident resulting in death.
Mariia’s death has prompted protests in the city and even provincewide, but it has also had a lasting impact on families in the neighbourhood.
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Describing Mariia’s death as tragic, Mauzerolle said it was “really important” to push ahead with securing streets in the borough to prevent more fatal collisions. This includes more measures around school zones — which varies from more speed bumps and changes to the streets in the area, depending on what each sector needs.
Under the plan, the Ville-Marie borough will close off Larivière Street between De Lorimier Avenue and Parthenais Street to cars this summer. In 2024, the section will be integrated into a nearby park.
Five streets will also become one-ways or have traffic redirected in certain sections. In downtown Montreal, Peel Street will be open to northbound traffic between René-Lévesque Boulevard and Sherbrooke Street. Further east, Fullum Street will only welcome northbound cars between Ontario and Sherbrooke streets.
Meanwhile, the borough will redesign or close off a total of eight streets. Among them are St-Christophe, Sussex and Ottawa streets. A full list of affected streets can be found on the city’s website.
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