Montreal spending big money on a makeover for Parc Jean-Drapeau

The City of Montreal wants to transform Parc Jean-Drapeau into a place that people the world over will want to visit.

It created a 10-year plan valued at $970 million to achieve that goal, with a focus on access to the river and creating sustainable mobility options.

About 60 per cent of the total cost, $570 million, will come from the city $57 million every year for 10 years. The other $400 million will come from public and private partnerships.

"I think that more than ever, during COVID, Montrealers have said very clear and loud, we love our parks, we want more parks, we want more green [space], we need it," Mayor Valrie Plante said.

Revamping the park is part of the city's green recovery plan, she said, which includes investing in parks and creating infrastructure.

Plante said, having visitedthe park before, she knows what it's like to drive around to multiple parking lots, looking for somewhere to leave her car.

A big part of the plan is reducing the number of parking areasby 80 per cent andcentralizing the lots,which are currently scattered across le Sainte-HlneandleNotre-Dame.

In turn, the city plans to turn those concrete spaces, the equivalent of 25 football fields,into green space. It also plans toimprove mobility within the park itself so that people can still get around after they ditch their cars.

They're doing studies to figure out what, exactly, those options will look like but they could include bike rentals or electric shuttles, Plante said.

They're also planning to create a riverside promenade and to givea facelift to Place des Nations, aspace created for Expo 67 where public performances took place for years.

There will also be more activities going on in the wintergiving it a more neighborhood park feel, with cross country skiing, sliding, snowshoeing and walking along the promenade.

Earlier this week, the city announced the Biosphere, the environment museum in the park, will be joining the city-run Space for Life museum network.

Reducing parking lots among recommendations

The plan is the result of a three-year process that included a public consultation carried out by the Office de consultation publique de Montral, an independent body.

Reducing the number of parking lots and prioritizing cyclists and pedestrianswas one of the recommendations. The report also said the presence of private vehicles should be reduced on the park's road network.

Lionel Perez, a member of the opposition Ensemble Montral party, said while motorists should be given less space, he does not believe all vehicle traffic should be banned.

He alsocriticized the administration for making the announcement about the plan before finalizing the mobility study.