Rue Sainte-Catherine

Famous of its activities

Rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest during a festival.

© Ville de Montréal

Actual street

Rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest facing the Place des Arts prior to construction.

© David Ross

Future rue Sainte-Catherine

Rue Sainte-Catherine development concept.

© Daoust Lestage Inc. - Architecture Design urbain

• Major Festivals
• Thoroughfare
• Redefinition

Rue Sainte-Catherine is one of North America’s best-known commercial thoroughfares. The stretch running through the Quartier des spectacles is often closed to traffic and used as a venue for major festivals.

The reconfiguration of rue Sainte-Catherine will create a public space unique to Montréal designed to hold large crowds. There is no longer any sidewalk or physical demarcation to define the road, the pedestrian walkway or the alignment of street furniture.

This innovation not only meets the needs of festivals during warmer months, it highlights the district’s distinct character with an urban design unique to Montréal that gives drivers and pedestrians a hint of what they will find inside the Quartier des spectacles.

Development Concept

• Harmonization of surface infrastructure between rue De Bleury and rue Saint-Dominique, in which pedestrian areas are only defined by removable bollards and a slight rise in elevation from the street.
• Alignment of mature street trees.
• Removal of some street furniture.
• Installation of concrete flagging.
• Use of new road drainage technology.
• Rehabilitation of underground infrastructure and installation of pneumatic waste collection system equipment.

Main benefits

• Creation of a public space, reconfigured as a pedestrian pathway, to meet the needs of festivals during the warm months.
• Confirmation of the district’s unique character by endowing this space with a design unique to Montréal.
• Upgrading of street-front properties to make them prime locations for commercial activities and prestigious institutions.