Baby Steps On The Road To Pedestrian-Friendly Streets

Christopher DeWolf on the thorny issue of pedestrianizing city streets.

1 minute read

July 19, 2004, 6:00 AM PDT

By Abhijeet Chavan @http://twitter.com/legalaidtech


Looking to the recent experiment of Pedestrian Sunday Kensington in Toronto's congested Kensington Market neighbourhood, Christopher DeWolf explores why Montreal might pursue a similar idea on its busy Mont Royal Avenue.

"In the 1960s, the Danish capital turned its main street into a pedestrian thoroughfare. Since then, it has developed a comprehensive network of both pedestrian-only streets and pedestrian-priority streets (walkers and cyclists have right-of-way but cars are allowed to proceed slowly), bolstered by a bicycle program that has expanded the number of bike lanes and allows people to borrow bikes from various racks around the city for a small deposit. The number of cars in Copenhagen has remained steady for the past twenty-five years. Copenhagen’s gradual prioritization of pedestrians and cyclists is what Avenue Verte seeks for Montreal."

Thanks to Phillip Todd

Friday, July 16, 2004 in Maisonneuve

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