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Montreal will likely decide by Friday whether to expand a new system of pedestrian corridors on city streets — now being tested in the Plateau Mont-Royal borough — that aims to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Municipal workers installed the first metal barriers Saturday on a 2.7-kilometre stretch of Mont-Royal Ave. between Esplanade Ave. and Fullum St. City officials have dubbed the initiative a “corridor sanitaire,” or “health corridor.”

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The system is designed to take the pressure off sidewalks by letting shoppers walk or stand in line on the street while keeping their distance with one another. The corridor has an average width of about 4.5 meters, according to the city.

“Citizen demand for this kind of solution is strong,” Plateau Mont-Royal borough mayor Luc Rabouin told the Montreal Gazette in a telephone interview. “I’m pretty positive that we are going to install similar corridors elsewhere. We don’t want to spend a month evaluating this, so I think you’ll see us decide by the end of the week.”