Province puts up $15 million to examine transit priorities

Quebec will invest nearly $15 million to study nine public transit projects that Montreal and regional mayors identified as the top priorities for the greater Montreal region, Transport Minister André Fortin announced Wednesday.

The studies should take a year to 18 months to complete, after which authorities will analyze the data concerning ridership projections, costs and impacts on population and decide which projects should be prioritized, Fortin said.

Among the projects being studied are:

The proposal of Montreal Mayor ■

Valérie Plante’s Projet Montréal party to create a new métro Pink Line running from the southwest to the northeast through the city.

Extending the Yellow Line south ■ into Longueuil.

Extending the western arm of ■ the métro’s Orange Line northward into Laval.

A high-speed public transit link ■ on Taschereau Blvd. in Longueuil.

Converting the Mascouche suburban ■ train line to the east, which was put into service 3½ years ago, into an electric rail line compatible with the coming Réseau express métropolitain (REM) rail line.

A high-speed link along NotreDame ■ St. to downtown Montreal.

Extending the planned Pie-IX ■

Blvd. express bus lanes southward to Notre-Dame St.

The transport minister stressed that the decisions were chosen according to needs expressed by local politicians and citizens.

“These projects are all based on priorities identified by many of the local officials who are with me today,” he said. “They are the ones who better recognized the citizens of the greater Montreal region and which ones could have a better impact on the lives of those citizens.”

At the same time, the minister played down criticism of a new management structure created to oversee the development of public transit projects in the Montreal region that is coming under fire from regional transit authorities who said it was overly complicated, bureaucratic and unwieldy.

The new management structure was developed by the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM), the independent body created by the province 13 months ago to oversee and simplify transit development in Montreal and its surrounding regions.