The Mayor and her executive committee member responsible for parks say that the decision to close the service roads on Mount Royal was a matter of public safety, but that further changes could yet be made to restore a degree of vehicle access to the top of the mountain.
"For security purposes we don't consult," said Luc Ferrandez when speaking with reporters about the decision to end through traffic on Remembrance Road and Camillien-Houde Way.
"There's been a young man who died on the mountain," he added, saying, "The situation can go no further."
But both Ferrandez and Mayor Valerie Plante insisted that the new configuration for road access around Mount Royal is far from set in stone. The two both described the road's closure as a "pilot project". Plante suggested that the way people and cars get to the top of the mountain could yet change again.
"We will also be looking at other ways for car-drivers, for example, to go from one way to another," she said. "This is something we'll be looking into, and we'll be consulting, as well, once we put the pilot together." That will happen in the spring.
But Plante stood firm in her decision to unilaterally close the roads to most traffic after an accident last year that killed 18-year-old cyclist Clément Ouimet, saying that, "For safety purposes, this is the right thing to do."