A major Montreal thoroughfare running through downtown, Quartier des Gares and Griffintown, Peel Street is one of the only roads connecting the Lachine Canal and Mount Royal.
The City of Montreal selected Peel Street as an ideal location for a bike path. It is the first permanent section of Montreal’s Express Bike Network (EBN). Peel Street’s geometric redevelopment aimed to make the road more sustainable and inviting, prioritizing active transportation by adding two one-way concrete bike paths – among the first designed in Montreal.
Geometric redevelopment improves the user experience by decreasing traffic and increasing the Urban Tree Canopy (UTC). UTC provides a number illustrating the amount of tree cover. EXP’s multidisciplinary team designed and oversaw a significant portion of Peel Street’s redevelopment. The greatest challenge was combining various transportation modes within the available right-of-way and within the diverse built environment.
Innovation
The innovation resides in the coordination of traffic lights to efficiently manage the different transportation modes. This includes optimizing traffic lights for vehicles based on available traffic count data and considering crossing time for pedestrians and cyclists in protected mode to ensure their safety through the implementation of bike boxes (two-stage bike left turn bays).
The City of Montreal, the local community and our team worked together to modernize the city’s transportation network. This innovative project leveraged the potential of sustainable transportation and encouraged active movement within the community by optimizing the experience, comfort and safety of the thousands of pedestrians and cyclists who transit this area daily. Innovative redevelopment and revival of this urban space reasserts Peel Street’s role as a vital commercial and institutional thoroughfare.
Services
Civil, Electrical, Landscape Architecture, Pavement, Traffic, Transportation Planning