MONTREAL -- It’s sunny, it’s warm, and, in Montreal, it is very hard to keep people from opening their doors and taking a stroll.

The City of Montreal, and the Plateau Mont-Royal borough specifically, knows this and is setting up a series of what they're calling family and active streets to allow people to go outdoors and respect physical distancing rules.

Only local traffic and deliveries will be permitted in these sections of road that are near green spaces and busy residential areas.

"We are in the most dense neighbourhood in Canada so people have to go outside," said Plateau-Mont-Royal borough mayor Luc Rabouin. "It's absolutely essential for their physical health, their mental health."

The first streets to be modified are:

  • Mentana St. adjacent to Laurier Park
  • Chapleau St. adjacent to Baldwin Park
  • Chabot St. adjacent to Parc de Lorimer

The city is planning to set up more family and active streets in the immediate future.

"People will go outside, they need to go outside," said Rabouin. "We want to give them more space."