Québec City

Québec City adopted an ambitious Complete Streets policy in March 2017. The City intends to remake 25% of its streets into “Rues Conviviales” in the coming years. As of July 2017, two projects have been completed, seven projects are underway, and three additional projects were slated to start in 2018. Complete Streets projects include a variety of street types, ranging from residential streets to suburban arterials.

Québec City’s policy is based around three principles: creating green streets, encouraging active transportation, and designing for four-season use. These principles contribute to the City’s overarching goal of healthy sustainability. So far, completed and underway projects have placed a heavy emphasis on increasing tree coverage and greenery. Québec City’s Complete Streets are also designed with the City’s harsh winters in mind, and incorporate features to make streets more accessible during winter months.

Québec City is also the first city in North America to use a multi-criteria, cartographic analysis to prioritize streets, developed with a research team from Laval University’s business school and planning program. The team used specialized decision-making software which requires only qualitative judgments to evaluate the relative attractiveness of options. This innovative approach was validated with the National Complete Streets Coalition (NCSC) and was presented in a joint NCSC/TCAT webinar in January, 2018.

The decision-making tool is not the only metric for Complete Streets used by Quebec City. A participatory design approach is employed by the City to allow citizens to meaningfully engage in the shaping of their streetscapes. The City has adopted context-dependent guidelines to ensure Complete Streets projects are appropriately designed with their environments in mind.