As part of rehabilitation work on the Concorde metro area, the city will begin converting a section of the boulevard to a pedestrian zone this summer.
This first street in Laval exclusively for pedestrians and cyclists will occupy the 400 meters of the current Boulevard du Souvenir, which connects Avenue Ampère to Avenue 12e in Laval-des-Rapides. This section will be closed to cars and turned into an active park trail accessible year-round.
interim measure
However, in a notice distributed in the spring to some 80 gates, mainly located on Avenue Ampère, Rue de Chamonix and Boulevard du Souvenir, the engineering department spoke of “an interim measure pending the development of the sector” since the part of the land adjacent to this section, which crosses the forest and wasteland of Remembrance, could potentially be built on. Sector councilor and Executive Committee member Sandra Desmeules declined our repeated requests for an interview.
Active connection
“Anchored in the City of Laval’s strategic vision and in the master plans for the pedestrian and bicycle network, this work aims to provide a safe active connection for pedestrians and cyclists,” writes Nesrine Saci, public affairs adviser, in an email exchange.
She adds that the aim is to “connect the walking and cycling paths on both sides of the axis to offer a user-friendly route that allows to actively reach the nearby points of interest”. That is, the Concorde intermodal metro station, the Route verte, the Bois-de-Boulogne sports center, the Laval technical school (Compétences-2000), the new secondary school that will open its doors at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, the Entraide Pont-Viau, the Saint-Louis-de-Montfort community center and the shopping centers.
Ambitious goals
Remember that Ville de Laval’s active mobility plan aims to double the percentage of trips made on foot or by bike on its territory from 7% to 14% by 2031. And in the longer term, the municipality wants to add 525 kilometers of pedestrian facilities by 2040.