The Maizerets neighborhood council wants to bring back school streets

Monday evening, the Maizerets neighborhood council presented some general results of the survey on the school streets pilot project.

Yesterday evening, the Maizerets neighborhood council held its monthly meeting at the Mgr Marcoux Center.

Some highlights of the street school pilot project

The assembly presented some highlights of this pilot project on Monday evening. The survey concerns all school streets and 416 respondents completed the questionnaire.

In the fall of 2023, four schools participated in the school streets pilot project. These were the Sacré-Coeur schools in Saint-Sauveur, Stadacona in Vieux-Limoilou, Jeunes-du-Monde (September 22 and 29) in Maizerets and Fernand-Séguin near Cité-Universitaire (September 29 September, October 6 and 13). Street school days always took place on Fridays.

“A school street designates a street located in the immediate vicinity of a school, closed to automobile traffic during the period when children arrive and leave school,” explained Pierre-Luc Lachance, vice-president, last year. -president of the executive committee responsible for mobility and road safety.

Electronic data collection took place from October 14 to November 6, 2023.

“Parents mainly completed this survey (91%). So, that can be a bit of a weakness,” emphasizes Claudia Larochelle, member of the board of directors of the Maizerets neighborhood council.

Child safety is one of the key elements of this written consultation.

“54% of parents think that their child feels safer during street-school days,” she notes.

“50% of respondents agree that the project has improved security around the school, while 20% are neutral and 26% do not agree,” indicates the City of Quebec in its collection report .

On the other hand, opinion on the performance of the project is quite divided.

“For 44% of respondents, the project brought traffic calming, but 30% of them disagree and 18% are neutral,” reports Ms. Larochelle.

Moving forward?

According to an article from Soleil dating from May 2024, the Jeunes-du-Monde school would be the only one wanting to move forward with this project. In the lines of this same article, Pierre-Luc Lachance affirmed that the City would support them in this.

“64% of respondents said they were satisfied with the pilot project. 78% of respondents want the project to continue […] », Mentions Claudia Larochelle of the Maizerets neighborhood council.

“Even if it didn’t have the expected effects on traffic, we still feel people’s enthusiasm for it. »

According to the survey results, 33% of people want to see changes made to the pilot project.

Respondents were also able to share several proposals in order to improve the project. It includes “the possibility of parking for residents, permanent signage, securing adjacent streets, extending the section of the closed street and the additional addition of crossing guards,” among others.

“People notice there is a problem. The street school has advantages, but it also brings irritants […]. This project remains interesting for raising awareness,” she believes.

“The pilot project cannot only rely on volunteer parents, but it is extremely positive to have street schools. It should be self-evident and normalized. The children have really taken over the street,” says Josephine Henault, treasurer of the CA.

The assembly also drafted a resolution to encourage the City to continue with the pilot project.

“To bring about change, the City should better explain the benefits of street schools so that people understand. We should also have a more global policy. We must go further,” explains Martial Van Neste, vice-president of the CA.

The next Maizerets neighborhood council will be held on November 4, still at the Mgr Marcoux Center.

Data and precise details on the school streets pilot project are accessible on the City of Quebec website.

This article was produced by Anne Charlotte Gillain, journalist from the Local Journalism Initiative.