Road and water infrastructure work in 2015 cost $445M
It wasn’t your imagination. Montreal was one big construction site in 2015, with the city spending a record $445 million to repair and improve roads and water infrastructure. And officials warned motorists and merchants Thursday that it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
“There is no doubt there is a lot of work that still needs to be done,” said Lionel Perez, a member of Montreal’s executive committee, as he detailed the city’s spending on capital road and waterworks projects in 2015. (He plans to announce capital works projections for 2016 at an upcoming news conference.)
“There is no doubt that we will continue to have a lot of construction, many work sites, but we are working in a coordinated way to minimize the impacts, to respond to the concerns of merchants and citizens, to expand the season over which we can do work, so that at the end of the day we will have not only nice roads, but the best roads in Quebec.”
Road and waterworks spending was up 20 per cent over 2014 when the city spent $370 million, and that was a jump of 50 per cent over the $247 million spent in 2013. Perez said Montrealers can expect that trajectory to continue for the next few years, although the frenzied rhythm of construction in and around the downtown area will slow in the summer of 2017 to accommodate celebrations of the city’s 375th birthday.
“It’s a constant struggle when you are trying to catch up after a deficit ... There is no doubt for the next fives years we are going to have a lot of work going on.”
Perez said the city is doing what it can to minimize the traffic head- aches that all this construction can cause.
For some upcoming big projects, the city will require crews work around the clock and six days a week to speed completion and minimize impacts on surrounding businesses. In 2015, the city took steps to improve project management, communicate more with the public and utility companies, and consulted traffic experts to reduce the negative impacts of roadwork.
But he said frustration is inevitable when there is so much catching up to do.
“If you want to improve the roads, yes, there is going to be short-term pain for long-term gain.”
The city plans to implement more projects that draw clients to streets undergoing roadwork, such as the $800,000 “Big Red Terrasse” project on St-Denis St. This consisted of painting the road and sidewalks red, adding temporary street furniture, and hanging 50 banners reminding customers that businesses were open during construction.
He said his administration is being vigilant to prevent the kind of collusion and corruption in city contracts that was exposed by the Charbonneau Commission inquiry into the construction industry.
He said more contractors are bidding on contracts now — about 15 per contract compared to three or four in the past — and the city has more audits, more inspectors, and improved ethics rules for city employees and elected officials.
“All these things demonstrate that we have in fact put such a high bar on contracting in the city of Montreal that we have the most rigorous governance when it comes to contract allocation in Quebec, if not in Canada,” he said.