Article content

There are more than 1.2 million dead people on Mount Royal, taking up over 500 acres of prime Montreal real estate. They lie there in perpetuity by historical decree, for the benefit of a few. Established when much of the city was pasture, these monuments to ash and bone have endured even as the surrounding city transformed.

Though decidedly less sacrosanct, the road stretching over the mountain in half has proven no less enduring — until now. Constructed in the car-happy 1950s and named after the rather corrupt mayor who first envisioned it, Camillien-Houde Way (and its adjoining cousin, Remembrance Rd.) is a seven-kilometre two-lane strip of asphalt cut through one of the most recognizable green spaces in the province, if not the country. Much like the cemeteries, this road exists for the benefit of a few — namely, the 2,000 or so cars looking to get from one side of the city to another at rush hour every day.