The city of Montreal is renovating Pine Avenue – one of the Plateau Mont-Royal boroughs most notorious cyclist routes. The renovations seek to improve greenery, the sewer system and traffic for both cyclists and motorists. 

The construction be broken up into two parts: the first lot will run on along Pine avenue between St. Denis and Saint Laurent. The construction for this started in 2021 and is set to be completed this year. Lot 2 will run from Saint Laurent and Parc. Construction for lot two began this year and is set to complete in 2023.

Alex Norris, city councillor of Plateau Mont-Royal said his team campaigned for this project for years. He said the former route had a sad sidewalk and that the project would convert it to a flow of greenery that allows for comfortable strolling and widened cycle paths. There are plants to plant 1,140 trees on both sides of the trees. He said however, with the name being Avenue des Pines, it is fitting to plant pines. But he said pines would be too wide and take up too much space, so the city has opted to plant elms and hackberries instead, as they are tall and leaves are mostly at top so they do not interfere with motorists. This is a large construction zone at the moment, but Norris said the city is trying to create the littlest possible inconvenience to the public.

Emmanuel le Colletter, who in charge of the project, said the construction running from St. Denis to Saint Laurent will be a 20 km stretch. He said the underground infrastructure will be rebuilt and the sewers will be redone to be built deeper. He said larger sidewalks will be implemented to consider those who are disabled, as currently the side walks are very thin.

The goals of this project are to improve security comfort of road users – particularly amongst cyclists and pedestrians and to make the area more green.

Le Colletter said the project is expected to be completed by next summer.