The Beaudry métro station is closing for 8 months
The Beaudry métro station, on Ste-Catherine St. in the heart of the Gay Village, will be closed for eight months starting this fall for renovations and repairs.
Opened in 1966, the station on the Green Line is in need of structural work and updates, STM spokeswoman Amélie Régis said.
“The renovations are necessary to maintain our infrastructure in good condition for questions of security, in the same way you would redo the roof of your house,” she said.
The STM chose to start the work in the fall so as not to interfere with the popular summer season, when Ste-Catherine St. is converted into a pedestrian-only thoroughfare in the Gay Village that attracts throngs of tourists and Montrealers.
The station’s floors and walls will be renewed, and its long moving sidewalks updated. Electrical, lighting and signage work will also be carried out.
In total, the construction is expected to take 18 months. The station will have to be completely closed for eight months of that period because it has only one public entrance, and trying to keep it open would have almost doubled the duration of the work, Régis said. Shuttle buses will be made available for passengers to link to the neighbouring stations of Berri UQAM and Papineau.
Full details on the construction work and mitigation measures will be announced shortly. Final costs for the project are not known yet because a contract has not been signed. The call for tenders for work was put out in April.
With an average of 1.5 million users a year, Beaudry ranks 63rd in terms of usage out of the city’s 68 stations.
Closures of métro stations are relatively uncommon. The last closure dates back to 2015, when work was done on the Beaubien station. Before that, Jolicoeur was shut in 2013, Villa-Maria in 2011 and CôteSte-Catherine in 2010.