A major world cycling event coming to Montreal in September will give the local economy a huge boost, but it will also force a lot of road closures. Last year, Quebec woman Magdeleine Vallieres won the elite road race at the USI Road World Championships held in Kigali, Rwanda. This year, the UCI Road World Championships will be held Sept. 20 to 27 and feature 1,000 athletes from 80 countries. As many as 500,000 spectators are also expected along the route, which will run through eight towns in the Montérégie and Montreal. For it all to go smoothly, Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada said some major pothole repairs need to take place. A total of 36 kilometres of roads will be resurfaced or upgraded as part of the preparations for the event. “We have no choice. It goes into our responsibility as a city to make sure that we have the capacity to deliver a city that corresponds to what the UCI needs to have as roads for the athletes to be secure on the road,” she said. “Do I think we should have done more in terms of maintenance on the roads in the past few years? Absolutely. I think citizens expect us to have roads for them. And now we’re going to be investing a lot to make sure that this event has the road that it needs.” Park Avenue will also be off limits between Pine Avenue and Mont-Royal Avenue from Sept. 5 to Oct. 4.
