Interchanges are not ideal

Prime examples of why longrange urban planning is essential can be found around the Highway 20 interchanges built in Baie-d’Urfé and Beaconsfield, twinned projects that opened in late 1998.

This past weekend, the level train track crossing at the Woodland interchange heading to Elm Ave. was closed to traffic to allow Canadian Pacific Railway to make repairs. Canadian National Railway is also expected to carry out repairs later this week.

Considering this modern interchange was constructed less than 20 years ago, it’s unfortunate this train-crossing obstacle wasn’t eliminated. Though it must be acknowledged several residential properties would have had to have been expropriated or purchased to extend the roadbed over the rail tracks as part of the Woodland interchange, this would be as true today as it was in 1998, so it’s complicated.

The Action 20 citizens lobby group and elected officials called for safety improvements following a horrific crash on June 22, 1995, which claimed the lives of four people. A tractor-trailer travelling west on Hwy. 20 smashed into vehicles stopped at a red light at the Woodland intersection. There were nine fatal crashes at the site between 1992 and 1995.

The Morgan-Hwy. 20 intersection was also the scene of fatal crashes, including one in December 1996.

The $22-million projects were each seen as a godsend when the Parti Québécois government approved funding. Interchanges would be constructed to replace the traffic lights that controlled the Morgan Rd. and Woodland Ave. intersections on Hwy. 20.

In 2013, the Association for the Preservation of Angell Woods released a commissioned engineering study that stated rushhour traffic at the Beaurepaire-Woodland exchange had reached its saturation point. The study was part of the lobby group’s effort to protect the Angell Woods area along Elm Ave. from any future development.

The study noted increased wait times during rush hour at all three sets of traffic lights that make up the complicated interchange connecting Hwy. 20 to Woodland, Elm and Beaurepaire Aves., which includes a level crossing over train tracks.

In Baie-d’Urfé, civic officials have slowly warmed to the idea of extending the Morgan-Hwy. 20 interchange into the industrial park, which is only accessible to regular traffic from the Hwy. 40-Morgan Blvd. interchange running north to Ste-Marie Rd. in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue.

When the Morgan-Hwy. 20 interchange was planned, town officials didn’t want traffic from the industrial sector to have access to the residential area south of Hwy. 20. A few years ago, however, Baie-d’Urfé officials supported a Montreal Agglomeration Council objective to extend Morgan from the Hwy. 20 intersection into its industrial park.

But town council noted such a project should be funded by Transport Quebec, not the town’s 3,800 residents. The town also demanded direct access be provided to the nearby John Abbott College/McGill University Macdonald campuses from Hwy. 20, and that these access points should be developed simultaneously with any restructuring of the Hwy. 20 interchange and with funding from the province.

In 2014, the West Island Chamber of Commerce backed the idea of linking Highways 20 and 40 through Morgan, noting it would be better for business.

While both 1998 interchanges were welcomed by West Islanders and have probably prevented further crashes, in hindsight, each left something to be desired.