Building of a New Cultural Infrastructure in Laval

Characterization of the issues: A large-scale study

Setting up a large building in the heart of a nerve centre of the city entails many traffic issues. To quantify and understand the impact of such a project on adjacent transportation networks, Intervia conducted a large-scale study including some fifteen intersections largely managed by traffic lights, whose perimeter extends along the following axes: Boulevard du Souvenir, Boulevard de la Concorde, Boulevard Le Corbusier and Boulevard de l'Avenir.

Many issues were raised regarding the area under study. In fact, the size of the area and its location within an attractive hub such as downtown Laval posed challenges in modeling and calibrating the sector. In addition, various ongoing and upcoming development projects had to be considered to produce a realistic traffic model that reflected future travel dynamics. Finally, in its modelling, the planning team had to consider the redevelopment of the study area, which consisted of closing Jacques-Tétreault Street while maintaining an access road to the north of the new building for delivery vehicles.

Innovative mitigation measures and pedestrian design recommendations

Considering the location of the project in a central district of the City, mitigation measures to modify the route of motorized vehicles had to be developed and proposed, such as a ban on U-turns on Boulevard de l'Avenir. In addition, splitting the left turn at the southern approach to Du Souvenir and Le Corbusier boulevards was necessary to maintain acceptable traffic conditions.

Due to the presence of several educational institutions as well as access to public transportation, the high number of pedestrians circulating in the vicinity of the project had to be taken into consideration. In this regard, Intervia issued recommendations to maintain and reprogram the traffic lights at the pedestrian crossing at the intersection of Jacques-Tétrault Street and Boulevard de l'Avenir and to remove the left-turn lane at the same intersection to ensure the safety of vulnerable users.

In conclusion, it was shown that with the proposed mitigation measures, the impact on traffic of the cultural infrastructure project will be relatively low.