KORRIDOR NORDIK
Everyday winter travel in Quebec can often be frustrating. For many people, getting to work means hours spent shoveling snow from the yard, the car, and then being slowed down behind the snowplows. In the summer, alternative transportation options are available to many users: biking and walking are attractive options for faster and healthier urban travel. However, in winter the possibilities are more limited and the conditions often more challenging. The development of this project proposes a solution to this winter problem. The Capital being a territory that combines urban life and exceptional natural landscapes, the idea of the project is therefore directed towards Quebec City.
"Korridor nordiK" proposes to re-train winter travel on a daily basis by providing a transportation network optimized for cross-country skiing, linking utilitarian transits to the sport activity. As people spend on average 8 times more energy skiing than sitting in a means of transport, this option becomes very interesting for active winter travel. Everyday commuters therefore have an alternative means of transportation during the beautiful white season.
Commuting becomes a driver of physical activity, appreciation of the Quebec winter and reduction of urban traffic. The main corridors are developed around the infrastructures already present in the Quebec City landscape by integrating with the existing bicycle networks. In addition, the "Korridor nordiK" project proposes to reweave a network based on the major roadways linking the main poles of human intensity (work, leisure, residences, etc.). In order to make the routes more efficient, while embellishing them with colored markers, the intersections of the various corridors created are punctuated with seasonal installations promulgating services to users, thus stimulating them to take advantage of the network.
The "Kabane nordiK" is an architectural event offering different services (wind shelter, café, ski rental center, etc.) to the users of the corridors. Their quantity and use are governed by the number of intersecting corridors and the activity of the area in which they are located, creating a node of intensity, a place for unexpected encounters and momentary rest. The "Kabane nordiK" is the icon and the adjuvant of the new type of winter daily transportation.
(From competitor's text)
(Unofficial automated translation)
This project is part of a "family" of proposals that have developed new ways of getting around and enjoying the city in winter. Korridor nordik was selected by the jury for its ambitious, almost radical, approach to the center of the city. This proposal suggests facilitating winter travel by setting up a cross-country ski transportation network using the existing bicycle networks in Quebec City. It does not create a new network, but uses the one that is already in place and close to people's living areas during the week.
Despite the utopian and "déjà vu" character of this proposal, the jury wished to retain it because it presents a new transportation device emblematic of our northern climate, which has the potential to create a real impact on the daily life of Quebecers and to assert a new identity that could be displayed with pride.
Also, the proposal links to the existing road infrastructures, which would induce a new form of activity and reappropriation of the streets in winter, giving more room to the human being and celebrating the presence of snow, in opposition to the heavy snow removal strategies we know today.
This idea of a daily sports route is not necessarily innovative, but it shines by its radical nature and the jury considers that it should be retained and highlighted to affirm the community's support for such a project.
(From jury report)
(Unofficial automated translation)
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