Ste-Catherine upgrade, bike paths, Blue Line among new projects
Giving Ste-Catherine St. a new look, developing a network of express bike paths, extending the métro’s Blue Line: Those are just a few of the major projects the city is budgeting for in the next three years. In addition to tabling its operating budget for 2019 on Thursday, the Valérie Plante administration unveiled its $6.5-billion capital works program for 2019-21, outlining its spending plans for projects like roadwork, water mains, sewers, parks, bike paths and social housing. Capital works projects are paid for by loans (62.3 per cent), cash payments (24.4) per cent and other sources such as government subsidies and deposits paid by developers (13.3 per cent). As can be guessed from the number of orange cones and detours across the city, more than half of the projects — 54.5 per cent — are to upgrade water infrastructures ($1.58 billion) and road infrastructures ($1.96 billion). Roadwork projects include $83.3 million to reconstruct Pie-IX Blvd., $82.2 million to refurbish Ste-Catherine St. W., and $43.6 million to renovate the Plaza St-Hubert. The city will invest $84 million to upgrade street lighting, $38.5 million on school safety zones and $6.5 million on the Blue Line extension. And as Plante announced recently, it will spend $1 million on a project office for the proposed Pink Line. The city also will spend $89 million on bike paths, including the Réseau express vélo, and on the Bixi bike-sharing network. The city has ambitious plans to enlarge and enhance green space across the island, budgeting $60 million to purchase green space and $56.8 million to upgrade large parks. It will spend $88.8 million for work on Jean-Drapeau Park, including the Gilles-Villeneuve racetrack and transfer $57 million will go to boroughs to upgrade local parks. Water projects include $585.5 million to replace secondary water pipes and sewers, $176.9 million for main water pipes and $140 million for work on the Rosemount, McTavish and Dollard-des-Ormeaux reservoirs and pumping stations. Another $267 million will be spent on five waste-processing centres, including two composting centres, while $13 million will go for a centre to sort recyclables and $18.6 million will be spent on eco-centres. The city will also spend $40.6 million on housing, including $26 million in the next year on social and community housing projects. Science museums will be renovated and modernized, with $30.3 million going to the Biodôme, $26.1 million to the Botanical Garden, $19.8 million to the Insectarium and $5.1 million to update technical equipment at the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium. The last phase of construction in the Quartier des Spectacles, the downtown entertainment district, will be undertaken at a cost of $34.9 million. The area around Place des Arts and the Clark Esplanade will be landscaped and upgrades of Clark and Bleury Sts. will begin. The city will also spend $40.9 million on infrastructure and landscaping in the new neighbourhood being built around the Université de Montréal’s new Outremont campus. Another $24.4 million will be spent on preparatory work and demolition for a $219-million project to revitalize Griffintown. The city will spend $105.8 million on libraries, including on new technology. However, not much progress will be made on the long-promised Cavendish Extension, with no money budgeted for the project in 2019 or 2020, and just $1.86 million budgeted for the $337-million project in 2021.