Councillors in dark about Formula E route
Ville-Marie borough council approved $4.6 million in roadwork on Monday to prepare for Montreal’s first Formula E all-electric vehicle road race in 2017, though the councillors who voted on the contract weren’t told which streets are to be redone with the money.
The route is secret until Mayor Denis Coderre and race officials are ready to announce they have an agreement, which will come soon, Coderre told the borough council at its meeting on Monday.
Councillor Steve Shanahan, a member of Vrai changement pour Montréal party, and Projet Montréal councillor Valérie Plante voted in favour of the $4.6-million contract, but said they did so reluctantly.
“The work is being done especially to facilitate a private, for-profit race course,” Shanahan said.
“And I couldn’t tell a citizen or a journalist where the course will be because I haven’t been given that information. So it really is an extraordinary circumstance. I made sure to underline at the borough council meeting that these are extraordinary circumstances.”
However, Shanahan said he voted in favour of the contract because he believes Formula E is a good event for Montreal and that the city is in a position “to become a leader in electrification of vehicles.”
As well, borough officials said the unidentified roads would probably have needed repair in the next five years, he said.
Plante, who represents SainteMarie district in the borough’s east-end, said she’s pieced together information from different sources that the race course will be concentrated in her district and in Saint-Jacques district, specifically around the Jacques-Cartier Bridge, Berri St. and around the Radio-Canada complex on RenéLévesque Blvd. E.
“We were given no plans and we have very little information for a big expense. I find that very problematic,” Plante said. “As a councillor who will have to manage the disturbances that will be caused by the roadwork, I find it unacceptable to make us vote on so little information.”
That said, Plante said she also voted in favour of the contract because she supports the idea of an all-electric car event that will promote Montreal internationally. She added that she hopes the roadwork plan takes into account a need in her district to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists to safely share the streets with cars.
Coderre, who also wears the hat of mayor of Ville-Marie borough, agreed to a request from Plante to share the race plans with councillors before making them public.
Coderre has said for more than a year that he’s lobbying to bring the Formula E series to Montreal to promote the city as a hub for technology and green initiatives, such as vehicle electrification.
A civil service report explaining the contract says the city has to undertake “several interventions and adjustments to the current geometry of the road network” to make it suitable for Formula E.
“It goes without saying that these interventions and adjustments planned for the current geometry of the road network will benefit all users, including pedestrians, cyclists and motorists,” Coderre spokesperson Catherine Maurice wrote in an email on Monday.
Formula E announced in July that Montreal will host two races of the all-electric race car series in July 2017, although it was still subject to “final administrative authorization.”
Formula E, like the F1 race held at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in June, is sanctioned by the Fédération internationale de l’automobile (FIA). Unlike the F1, Formula E races are on streets rather than on a race track.
The Ville-Marie borough awarded the $4.6-million contract to Eurovia Québec Construction Inc., whose bid was $1.08 million, or 19 per cent, below the city’s estimate for the work.
Another company, Demix Construction, submitted a bid that was nearly $200,000 below Eurovia’s price. However, Demix Construction’s bid and the only other bid on the contract, from Les Entrepreneurs Bucaro Inc., were rejected because the companies’ authorization from the Autorité des marchés financiers to bid on municipal construction contracts expired on May 27 and July 10, respectively.
In addition to the roadwork contract, Ville-Marie borough council also approved on Monday a $227,460 expense for WSP Canada Inc. to prepare plans and specifications and oversee the roadwork and a $126,678 expense for Groupe Qualities to provide quality on material that will be used for the roadwork to ensure it meets FIA requirements.