Redesign of Rue Decelles: Let the Celebrations Begin!

SAINT-LAURENT, QC, Sept. 17, 2018 /CNW Telbec/ - The temporary redevelopment of Rue Decelles, between Boulevard Décarie and Avenue Sainte-Croix, will be officially inaugurated on Tuesday, September 25, at 5 p.m. As it may be recalled, this project is one of three selected for the 2018 edition of Ville de Montréal's Shared and Pedestrian Streets Program (PIRPP). Following the completion of Place Rodolphe-Rousseau in 2017, this redevelopment is also the second phase of the Borough of Saint-Laurent's Urban Promenade Master Plan, submitted in June 2018. It is designed to improve life for pedestrians, while keeping vehicle and bicycle traffic at lower speeds. 

"This new urban development is directly in line with a 2014-2017 Borough priority as well as with four of our sectoral plans adopted in August 2017 focusing on mobility, sustainable development, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and cultural development," stated Saint-Laurent Mayor Alan DeSousa. "This project mainly brings the street back to the residents in the neighbourhood. This space is effectively open to all and gives both young people and families an opportunity to get together, have fun and learn. It is also intended to provide a more inviting and relaxing urban living environment, while highlighting nature as well as the historical, architectural and cultural heritage of Saint-Laurent. In so doing, at the same time as maintaining traffic safety, we are encouraging the re-appropriation of this local public space and increasing the commercial and tourist facilities in the area."

Residents in the neighbourhood and in Saint-Laurent as a whole are invited to celebrate these new installations on September 25, 5 p.m. - 9 p.m., with a corn roast, two concerts and a special pathway to discover the street's new features, including a contest! A number of fun and informative activities have also been planned and the evening will end with the presentation of an animated film: Nelly et Simon : Mission Yéti, a 2018 Québec adventure comedy. Throughout the fall, the street will come alive again with a first activity on Saturday, September 29, at 5 p.m., as part of the Journées de la culture, in the form of an "open literary microphone" with Saint-Laurent authors, accompanied by jazz and hot chocolate.

These new installations were designed and built by La Pépinière / Espaces collectifs, a non-profit organization, in collaboration with the Borough of Saint-Laurent. It should be noted that Vanier College contributed to it as well: in collaboration with the Borough of Saint-Laurent, the architectural competition organized for the creation of street furniture in Place Rodolphe-Rousseau was open this year to the Rue Decelles project. The winning student team, under the direction of Professor Richard Klopp of the Vanier College Architecture Program, received a $500 award from the Borough for its "Anapausis" concept, a wooden structure for benches located in front of Parc Decelles.

As previously mentioned, this redevelopment of Rue Decelles will be modified during the first two years (2018-2019), to test the temporary features, their use and the level of public satisfaction, before the permanent redevelopment planned for 2020 is completed. This is the second Saint-Laurent project under the PIRPP, following the development in the Norvick sector in 2015.

About the PIRPP
The Pedestrian and Shared Street Program provides financial and technical support to boroughs so that they can design and carry out shared street projects, whose concepts?unique to each one and developed with and for the community?will meet their residents' needs. The boroughs whose projects have been selected?following a call for projects?receive support over a three-year period to test temporary installations in the first two years of the project and then to set up permanent facilities in the third year.

More information on the PIRPP may be found on Ville de Montréal's web portal, under Transportation.

SOURCE Ville de Montréal - Arrondissement de Saint-Laurent