WISH LIST FOR MONTREAL
Plante eyes métro extension
Mayor Valérie Plante is calling on the Quebec government to extend the western branch of the métro’s Orange Line northward to Boisfranc.
“This project is an absolute priority,” Plante said at the weekly executive committee meeting Wednesday morning.
“I sincerely hope that the government of Quebec understands its necessity and importance, especially with the arrival of the REM,” she added.
Connecting the western Orange Line to the Réseau Express Métropolitain (REM)’S station at Bois Franc is a must to boost public transit and overcome highway congestion near the Décarie Expressway and Highway 40, where an estimated 30,000 new housing units are slated for construction in the next 20 years, Plante said.
Those include the controversial Royalmount complex, whose developers unveiled the latest version of the estimated $7-billion project Tuesday, and the former Blue Bonnets Raceway, where the city plans a neighbourhood of at least 5,000 housing units.
The 2.2-kilometre métro extension was Plante’s top ask at a news conference at city hall to announce her wish list for the Coalition Avenir Québec government’s upcoming budget, to be unveiled March 10.
“It’s been 25 years since we last built a (métro) station on the island of Montreal,” she said.
Highway congestion is straining the transportation system to the limit, causing delays that cost the local economy an estimated $4 billion a year, she said.
“Having fewer people on the road takes pressure off the highway network,” said Plante, calling on the government to invest the same amount in public transit as it does in road infrastructure.
She denied that her request that Quebec make the Orange Line extension a top priority means her proposed Pink Line is on the back burner.
“I’m definitely not forgetting about the Pink Line. It is really necessary,” she said.
“It’s not one versus the other, it’s both at the same time,” she added.
A preliminary estimate last year by the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain put the cost of extending the Orange Line to Laval at $4.3 billion.
The 6.4-kilometre extension would include five stations, of which three would be on the island of Montreal: Poirier (near Poirier St. and Marcel-laurin Blvd.), Boisfranc and Gouin Blvd.
Plante said she did not know how much the 2.2-kilometre extension would cost, saying that would depend on many factors, like construction methods, land costs, and whether it would be necessary to expropriate. Simon Charbonneau, a spokesperson for the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM), said he was unable to provide the information.
However, St-laurent Mayor Alan Desousa estimated the cost of extension at between $600 million and $1 billion. There would be cost savings because part of the 2.2-kilometre tunnel has already been dug for the underground bus garage at Côte-vertu, he said.
“The extension of the Orange Line to Bois Franc is a decision that has been long overdue,” Desousa said.
“We’ve had studies galore and every study has shown that if there’s one decision that the government can take in terms of mass transit on the island of Montreal that gives it the biggest bang for the buck, it’s this 1.2 kilometres to connect the Orange Line to the REM,” he said.
The benefits would be not only local but also regional, Desousa said.
Extending the Orange Line to Bois Franc was among the key recommendations last year of a working group headed by transportation expert Florence Junca Adenot on mobility issues in the Royalmount sector.
The proposal comes on top of the $4.5-billion extension of the Blue Line, expected to start in 2021 and a proposed tramway from east-end Montreal to downtown, which is still in the planning stages.
The Quebec government has also given preliminary approval to a proposed tramway from Lachine to downtown, which Plante has said would represent the western section of her proposed Pink Line.
The mayor also called on Quebec to invest $320 million over the next two years in Accès-logis, the provincial program that finances social housing.
This would enable her administration to achieve its goal of delivering the 12,000 new social and affordable housing units that she promised during her mandate, she said.
Plante has said 6,000 new units are already on the way, but provincial cash is needed to bring the other 6,000 units to fruition.
She also asked for funding to extend the PIE-IX Blvd. rapid transit bus southward from Pierre-de-coubertin Ave. to Notre-dame St. E.
Plante also asked Quebec to help Montreal attain its goal of reducing greenhouse gases by 55 per cent by 2030 by investing twothirds of revenues from Quebec’s carbon-credit program in public transit.