First step of Promenade Champlain Phase 4 to feature pedestrian bridge

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

The Coalition Avenir Québec government is moving ahead with the fourth and final phase of the Promenade Samuel-De Champlain shoreline redevelopment plan.

Phase 4, spanning from Rue D’Estimauville to Montmorency Falls, would complete the project, which began as a legacy gift to Quebec City from the Quebec government to mark its 400th anniversary in 2008.

The 8.1 kilometre length of the final phase is longer than the combined total of the first three phases, running from the bridges to the yacht club along the promenade. Phase 3, completed in 2023, comprises a beach and pool area.

Phase 4 itself comprises redevelopment of five zones in separate stages.

Jonatan Julien, the minister for infrastructure and minister responsible for the capital region, made the announcement June 10 at Le Pivot community centre in Beauport, alongside the vice president of the city executive committee, Coun. Pierre-Luc Lachance (Saint-Roch-Saint-Sauveur); Montmorency MNA Jean-François Simard; and André Roy, director general of the Commission de la Capitale Nationale du Québec (CCNQ), which manages Promenade Samuel-De Champlain.

The Phase 4 plan was selected from three consortia who were finalists in an “ideation” com- petition to stimulate concepts for the projects. A total of 32 teams from around the world submitted concepts. The winner is a Montreal-based group comprising Atelier L’Abri, Écoterritoire, Ghost and Le Picbois.

The centrepiece of the first stage of Phase 4 will be a bridge for pedestrians and cyclists to be built between Rue D’Estimauville and the Baie de Beauport, where a privately managed beach area has been in place for several years. It will pass over tracks for a CN railway marshalling yard.

The bridge, Julien said, “is the first step toward enhancing this fantastic site. This ambitious project will improve active mobility and enhance the quality of life for residents.”

Julien said he hopes to see the pedestrian bridge completed next year, with $5 million already invested in preparing plans. As for other components of the project, Julien said he was not in a position to provide a specific timetable, except that it would take several years. No overall budget has been drawn up either.

Besides the D’Estimauville sector, the four other sectors are defined as Rivière Beauport, Boul. des Chutes, the former cement works and Étang de la Côte.

A key component of the project is the transformation of the Autoroute Montmorency in the target sector into an “urban boulevard” making the shoreline more accessible and reducing the impact of a freeway.

The objective of the project contains five principles, as outlined in briefing documents: “Reclaim the shoreline and balance mobility, preserve existing biodiversity and natural environments, regenerate and rewild the shoreline, reconnect neighbourhoods to the shoreline, and create a resilience laboratory for urban development.”

Although CCNQ is the lead agency on the Promenade Samuel-De Champlain project, other partners include the ministry of transport, the Port of Quebec and the Quebec City administration.

Details of the project are available on the CCNQ website.