In the saga of the hilly cycle path in Beauport, the mayor of Quebec ended up saying on Tuesday that he would not reproduce the model elsewhere in the city.
• Also read: Quebec City Hall: Claude Villeneuve harshly criticizes Bruno Marchand’s record
“This is not the result we want,” Bruno Marchand agreed on Tuesday, regarding the cycling development on rue du Cénacle, in Beauport, which has been the talk of the town for several days for the wrong reasons. Its configuration is punctuated by valleys, due to the courtyard entrances, which earned it the unenviable nickname of “pump track».
Mr. Marchand has decided: there will be no other cycle paths of this type in Quebec. “When we look at the result, are there going to be others? I don’t think so.”
Student Safety
He emphasizes, however, that the objective was also to “secure a school corridor”, in an area where there are three primary schools and one secondary school. The children are away from the cars and that’s a good thing, he says.
To the opposition, which today criticizes the development, the mayor recalled that two elected officials from his ranks, Isabelle Roy and Stevens Mélançon, voted in favor of the district. “At some point, you have to take responsibility for your decisions!”
Opposition criticism
Precisely, the leader of the official opposition, Claude Villeneuve, made a media outing in the company of Mr.me Roy, Monday, on rue du Cénacle. He deplored the “poorly constructed” infrastructure.
Tuesday, the leader of the second opposition, Patrick Paquet, affirmed that the City has already made much better designed developments, notably on Avenue Chauveau. He believes that the City must ask the contractor to resume work on the Cénacle. “We should redo the cycle path with the contractor. I don’t know if the City should pay part of it. Certainly. But I think the mayor is at fault and we should not accept a project like that.”
Jackie Smith, head of Transition Québec, believes that “the bike path in Beauport is a failed project. We should have been more sensitive to details so that it didn’t create a roller coaster. If we are going to invest in road safety, it has to do the job. Elected officials must be on the case.”
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