Car ban on Mount Royal urged

A city plan to protect Mount Royal should include a possible ban on automobile traffic across the Montreal landmark, Montreal's Office of Public Consultation (OPC) has recommended.

"There was consensus over the city's desire to reduce the presence of automobiles on Mount Royal to the benefit of public or alternative transport," the OPC wrote in a 125-page report summing up the content of public hearings held this year on Mount Royal's future. "A first, concrete step could be taken by the creation of a short-term, pilot project that would detour the through traffic now using Mount Royal."

The OPC's report follows two months of hearings held last spring on an attempt by city hall to update regulations protecting the mountain.