Our Lady of traffic

>> A coalition of East End residents tries to fight the proposed Notre-Dame highway project

MORE CARS NO ANSWER:
Francis Lapierre and Monique Désy Proulx

by PATRICK LEJTENYI

The latest traffic-based mega-project to hit the city, now that work on St-Laurent has been more or less completed, is an almost billion-dollar facelift of the grim section of Notre-Dame East. It’s an unlovely stretch, to be sure, but residents and environmental activists are howling that the proposed project will only make matters worse.

Unveiled late last month, the provincially and municipally funded project ($625-milllion from Quebec, $275-million from Montreal) is officially hailed as a much needed “modernization” of the nine-kilometre strip. Different renovation proposals have been kicking around since 1970, but mayor Gérald Tremblay says this one will go through, having made it a “personal commitment.” Sections with the heaviest traffic will be widened from four lanes to eight, with one lane reserved for public transportation in each direction. It’s estimated that between 75,000 and 100,000 vehicles use the street every day; the new project will boost capacity anywhere between 50 and 200 per cent, depending on the section of road. The project also includes a connection to Highway 25, as it emerges out of the Louis-Hippolyte-Lafontaine tunnel and runs north into Anjou. Construction is set to start at the end of 2008 and is scheduled for completion by 2014. The road section will cost an estimated $750-million, while the city will spend an additional $150-million on “complementary” improvements to attract investment between 2008 and 2016.

Public consultations are already underway, and the public certainly is talking about it—but much of what’s being said is negative.

TWO VISIONS OF THE FUTURE:
The city’s (top) and the coalition’s (bottom)

Off the waterfront

Many locals say the project is both disappointing and potentially dangerous. A group of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve residents have set up the Coalition pour humaniser la rue Notre-Dame, who say they want to turn Notre-Dame East back into a community artery rather than a highway friendly to heavy trucks.

“There are two big problems with the project,” says the Coalition’s Monique Désy Proulx, a 15-year Hochelaga resident who has long been a thorn in officialdom’s side over development and river access issues. “The first is, this is an enormous amount of money for cars in an era where we’re talking about Kyoto and air pollution. We should be opting for a new vision.”

(Just last week, on the eve of the global warming conference in Bali, Indonesia, Quebec Premier Jean Charest announced $350-million worth of new measures the province will apply to fall in line with its Kyoto commitments, to kudos both locally and abroad. The money will come from federal transfer payments, he said.)

“Second,” continues Désy Proulx, “we’re on the edge of the river, but we can’t exploit it at all.” Although part of the project would unite two parks on either side of Notre-Dame, the shoreline is otherwise blocked off from pedestrian access and remains an unimpressive industrial wasteland. “This could be an exceptional site,” she says.

And she isn’t impressed by any proposed park. The current waterfront park, Parc Champêtre, “isn’t somewhere I’d want to go at night,” she says.

Before the days of security and terrorism paranoia, the nearby Port of Montreal was accessible (technically illegally, but no one cared much), Désy Proulx says. But these days, the fences have been replaced, sealing the river off from any unauthorized visitors. Now, says Désy Proulx, “We’re turning our back on one of the nicest places in the world.”

“It’s cutting us off from the river for the next 50 years, which is absolutely revolting,” says Francis Lapierre, another coalition member. “It will be a huge concrete scar affecting the residents of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and Mercier.”

Suburban solutions

The plan’s proponents, however, disagree. The official line says the new highway will ease congestion from the surrounding neighbourhoods, making life safer for the borough’s 129,000 residents, many of them young families. It will also ease congestion on the artery, which can become a parking lot during rush hour, and get trucks going to and from the port—between 5,000 and 7,000 a day—away from residential areas.

But Désy Proulx says the traffic problem is only bad at rush hour. “It’s only bad for 25 hours a week,” she says. “And for this, we’re poisoning our kids with carbon dioxide. We want less space for cars—this is a project that benefits suburbanites, and does nothing for Montrealers.”

The Conseil régional de l’environnement de Montréal also say they are “very disappointed.” In a statement (calls were not returned to the Mirror by press time), the CRE said the city government is turning its back on pronouncements it made in 2002 opposing increasing car and truck traffic. “It is clear that the Transport Ministry of Quebec has nothing else to offer Montrealers but more traditional solutions,” they say.

Rehumanize your ’hood

What the coalition is proposing is revamping Notre-Dame East into a vibrant urban street, complete with green space, access to the waterfront and a tramway system. They call it “humanizing” the street, and also hope the city will allow the rebuilding of some of the 8,000 homes that were demolished in the 1970s to make room for the CBC-Radio-Canada building and other projects, most of which eventually stalled.

“We’re denouncing this phony solution,” says Lapierre. “But we’re proposing an option that will keep this a street, one that can carry people from the suburbs to downtown.

“Throughout North America, there is a trend towards tearing down urban highways,” he continues. “This is taking us back 50 years.”

For all their gusto, however, it is doubtful they will effect any significant change in the project. With construction slated to begin a year from now, and serious dollars being set aside, it will probably only be a matter of time before the highway cuts through the neighbourhood.

But those interested in voicing their opposition can do so at the coalition’s site, www.notre-dame.ouvrage.org. Public consultations will continue next month. For more information about the project, see www.projetnotredame.qc.ca.