St-Denis St. to get $10.4M makeover

First came St-Laurent Blvd., then came Parc Ave. Now St-Denis St. is poised to become the site of major repair work.

It’s the third major artery in the heart of the city in the last decade to see its street and sidewalks torn up to replace ancient water pipes.

The road and sewer work for the two-block stretch of St-Denis between Duluth Ave. E. and MarieAnne St. will cost $10.4 million.

The water pipes under the street date back to 1873, said Philippe Sabourin, a spokesperson for the city.

While businesses complained about long repair periods that left them inaccessible during work on St-Laurent and Parc, the city said things will be different this time. For one, crews will work on Saturdays, and into the night on weekdays, ending at 9 p.m. Local residents and merchants had asked the city not to make it a 24-hour work site, so they can be spared the noise.

The city will spend an additional $4 million to ease the pain for store and restaurant owners as well as local residents and visitors to the street during the construction period, set to begin this September and be completed by November 2016.

The measures include creating a long red “terrasse” along the east-side sidewalk that will make the local businesses stand out and give the area a festive air during the construction process, the city said. The terrasse, to be in place at least from August to November of this year, is the fruit of several meetings with the local business community, said Lionel Perez, the executive committee member in charge of infrastructure.

The terrasse will be there for the duration of the repairs, although its location will change while the eastside sidewalk is being replaced.

The city will also have a large mural indicating which businesses are located on the strip, and it will also paint the names of the stores and restaurants onto the sidewalk to give them more visibility.

There will be an effort to relocate parking to side streets, by changing the signage, to help shoppers and restaurant patrons access the area.

The street will be reduced by one lane between September and March, and then by two lanes from April to November.

Perez said he hopes the measures to ease the pain for local businesses will be successful and can then be replicated on Ste-Catherine St. W., which is due for major reconstruction work starting in 2017.

Glenn Castanheira, an adviser to opposition Projet Montréal, and a spokesperson on matters of commerce, said it’s good news the city has a plan to help local businesses during what could be a difficult construction period.

However, he said the city has missed an opportunity to reinvent the street, much like New York City did with Times Square, where the city blocked off the street to cars, after a test period while the street was being repaired, and then decided to build a permanent pedestrian plaza based on the positive experience.

“It’s good, but we’re not acting like a 21st-century city here,” Castanheira said. “We’re acting like a very deficient city that’s trying to catch up.”