Sainte-Catherine street west – Montreal’s most famous – clearly needs a makeover.

In the 1940s and 1950s, it was Canada’s premier entertainment street, the neon-lit strip lined with theatres, clubs and restaurants. By the 1960s, the allure had more to do with shopping, with its crowds of pedestrians coveted by retailers.

But the inexorable pull of suburban malls eventually took their toll. Today, while the street is not the boarded-up wasteland that’s been predicted, some storefronts are empty, the shoppers aren’t as plentiful and the sidewalks are cracked. Last summer, a backhoe was swallowed by a sinkhole on the street, the victim of a 137-year-old sewer pipe.

In any other city, reviving a troubled main street would be a no-brainer. Not in Montreal. The street was allowed to decay, in part because of fears that an overhaul would turn out like so many other Montreal road projects: they go on forever, disrupt traffic and shoppers, and leave bankrupt stores in their wake – with little to show for it.

Money was also a problem, as city projects inevitably go overbudget. And the ideas that were floated – returning streetcars to Sainte-Catherine, for example – tended to be expensive.

Mayor Denis Coderre, who won power in November, took his typical, no-nonsense approach to the issue. His administration ordered infrastructure under the street to be rebuilt this spring. Later this year, he’ll seek public input on what should be done above ground along the busiest two kilometres of the street – from Atwater Avenue (site of the old Montreal Forum) to Bleury Street (the city’s new festival district).

Instead of streetcars, which Coderre sees as too expensive, he is pitching the renovation as a way to celebrate Montreal’s 375th anniversary in 2017. The plan contrasts with the big-thinking but unrealistic 375th-birthday legacy his predecessor, Gérald Tremblay, proposed, which featured the $1 billion-plus streetcars idea.

Coderre also hasn’t been afraid to float potentially controversial ideas. He says he’s “seduced” by the idea of completely closing the street to cars and turning it into a pedestrian mall. Other people are proposing that cars be banned only in the summer and for two weeks around Christmas. A section of Sainte-Catherine East that encompasses the Gay Village already gets turned into a vibrant pedestrian street every summer.

Downtown merchants, a conservative bunch, are not at all keen on a pedestrian-only Sainte-Catherine West. But Coderre’s promise of a renewed street, with upgrades completed on time, has won their praise. Their association even approved the idea of removing parking from one side of the street to make the sidewalk wider. The caveat: they want new parking spots added somewhere else, perhaps underground.

Many other ideas are being bandied about. Heated sidewalks to keep them clear of snow and ice. Public art. New outdoor gathering places. Street furniture. Terraces. Lit-up buildings.

Coderre wants Sainte-Catherine to be a warm, inviting place year-round. Montrealers hope he succeeds. They want their favourite thoroughfare finally to have a buzz about it again.

© 2014 Investment Executive. All rights reserved.