Building of a New Cultural Infrastructure in Laval

Identifying key issues: a large-scale study

Constructing a large public building at the heart of Laval’s downtown hub brings significant challenges related to traffic circulation. To quantify and understand the project’s potential impacts on adjacent transportation networks, Intervia conducted a large-scale traffic study encompassing around 15 intersections, largely managed by traffic lights, within a perimeter defined by Boulevard du Souvenir, Boulevard de la Concorde, Boulevard Le Corbusier, and Boulevard de l’Avenir.

Several challenges emerged during the analysis. The extensive size of the study area and its central location within such an active urban node posed difficulties for the modeling and calibrating of realistic traffic scenarios. Moreover, various ongoing and future development projects had to be factored in to accurately represent the evolving travel dynamics of the sector. The study also accounted for the planned closure of Jacques-Tétreault Street, while maintaining a northern access road to the new building for delivery vehicles.

Innovative mitigation measures and pedestrian design recommendations

Given the project’s central location, mitigation measures had to be developed to adjust vehicle movements, such as prohibiting U-turns along Boulevard de l’Avenir. Additionally, splitting the left-turn at the southern approach to Du Souvenir and Le Corbusier boulevards was necessary to maintain acceptable traffic conditions.

Because of the presence of several educational institutions and nearby public transit connections, the area experiences high pedestrian volumes. To ensure pedestrian safety, Intervia recommended maintaining and reprogramming the pedestrian crossing signals at the intersection of Jacques-Tétreault Street and Boulevard de l’Avenir, and removing the existing left-turn lane at that same intersection to better protect vulnerable users.

Ultimately, the study demonstrated that, with the proposed mitigation measures in place, the cultural infrastructure project would have minimal impact on local traffic circulation.