UCI Road World Championship brings 1-hour commutes and mixed reactions as closures drag on

Montreal is in the thick of the UCI Road World Championship—the world's biggest cycling week—and the traffic cost is already steep. A drive from downtown to Parc and Mont-Royal that normally takes 15 minutes stretched to almost an hour on Monday as road closures and police barricades snarled commutes across the city.

The championship runs September 20–27. Parc Avenue has been closed for the past two weeks, and the Bonaventure Highway faced closures Monday until 3:30 p.m. and will close again Tuesday from 6:30 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. The Champlain Bridge will close to daytime traffic over the weekend for the final events.

Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada acknowledged the significant mobility impact. "The mobility plan was finalized in June, and today we have a daily monitoring team that meets morning and evening to make adjustments and respond quickly to issues," she said. The city estimated 20,000 people would attend the races.

But that prediction has collided with reality on Parc Avenue, where restaurant and shop owners say business has slowed despite months of preparation. "We were expecting a business boom. The city told us it would happen because of the 20,000 people gathering here. We prepared and bought lots of stuff, but now we are struggling," said Ahmed Shapnil, supervisor at Marché Ô Coin du Parc.

Reactions from other residents split. "We can sacrifice a bit of road closures for something like this. It's fun, and the weather is nice. Why not?" said Lama Azzam. Nirmal Desai offered a longer view: "Do we have inconvenience for 10 days, sure, but I think the cost, the money that comes into the economy, I think it's gonna have more people than people that's gonna disappoint."

Ella Rokosh, from Edmonton and on holiday in Spain, travelled to Montreal specifically to watch the races. The championship draws riders from around the world.

A late-Monday breakthrough eased one major threat: the city and blue-collar workers reached an agreement in principle, averting a seven-day strike that would have further disrupted city services during the event.