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Road rage fuels municipal campaigns >> Councillors in gridlock over proposed Cavendish extension by DOMINIQUE RITTER Municipal politics may be a tedious subject to many people, but the current campaign couldn't get much more animated than it is right now in Montreal's West End. This fight could only be more colourful if the players were literally slinging day-glo paint.
NDG-Loyola city councillor Jeremy Searle told the Mirror that the proposed extension is based on a "screw-your-neighbour" approach to dealing with the city's traffic problems. But Marvin Rotrand, councillor for the neighbouring Snowdon district, calls Searle a demagogue and says the extension is "the only solution" to West End gridlock woes. Traffic jams in driveways
"Why do residents of Côte-St-Luc, who wish to go northbound, have to flood into the small, residential streets of Snowdon?" pleads Rotrand. "Some Snowdon residents spend 15 minutes just getting out of their driveways in the morning." But Searle believes that Snowdon's solution spells disaster for Loyola. "The people of Snowdon suffer from a lot of overflow traffic from the Décarie," Searle says. "[But] Marvin gets by electorally by saying he can dump Snowdon's traffic onto their neighbours in NDG." Searle believes the proposed changes would make Cavendish an alternative to the Décarie expressway and would itself become congested and spew its overflow traffic onto NDG's residential streets. However, the assistant director of traffic and transportation for the city of Montreal, Yann Davies, insists that Cavendish would not become an expressway substitute. Furthermore, Davies, who worked on the MUC study, said an alternative is not even necessary. "Décarie never gets that blocked during standard commuter hours," Davies told the Mirror, in open defiance of most motorists' common sense. "Nobody but a fool is going to sit on the Décarie as long as Cavendish is less congested," counters Searle. Also fighting against the proposal is Côte-St-Luc mayor Bernard Lang. According to the MUC's plan, the Côte-St-Luc segment of Cavendish would be changed from a dead-end to a Metropolitan access route accommodating 1,000 to 1,200 cars per hour during rush hour. But according to Rotrand, the facts are in; Searle and Lang are simply choosing to ignore them. The MUC study found that the extension would reduce traffic on many West End streets, and that it would not significantly alter traffic patterns on the Décarie. Giving NDG the shaft Searle discounts the MUC study as "childishly flawed" and "an absurdity," because it only considers local traffic, not suburban communters. "There is no reason to doubt that this study is reliable," answers Davies. "It's unbiased. It was written by the MUC." But because the extension will encourage residential, commercial and industrial development, Searle claims the link will favour MUC regional interests while shafting NDG. The real problem, he says, is the Décarie Interchange, where poor provincial planning has resulted in Quebec's worst traffic tie-ups. In his view, the Laurentian Autoroute and the Décarie expressway should be directly linked by a tunnel (both are considered the same roadway, Highway 15), rather than decanting onto a three-kilometre stretch of the Metropolitan that now must sustain the traffic of two highways. To Searle, the Cavendish extension is a way of unloading a provincial problem onto municipal roads. However, a tunnel link underneath the city of St-Laurent is not on the agenda for the time being. What residents can expect is another impact study of the Cavendish extension by the Ministry of Transport, and this Searle considers a small victory for his side. How will the next study differ from its predecessor? "The next one will differ because I'm going to be insisting to be involved in it," explained Searle. But will Searle still be around after the municipal election on November 1? "Does Madonna wear pointy bras?" What Searle means is "yes." Unfortunately, Madonna doesn't wear pointy bras anymore.
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The controversy surrounds the Montreal Urban Community's (MUC) plan to extend Cavendish Boulevard through to the Metropolitan autoroute (also known as the TransCanada or Highway 40). The plan was actually put on hold by the provincial Ministry of Transport earlier this month, but even so, the ongoing local debate is fiery.
Proponents of the deal claim that the Cavendish extension would benefit the people of Côte-St-Luc, Ville St-Laurent, TMR and Montreal (NDG). They say the link-up would provide easy access to the Metropolitan for West Enders who otherwise inundate residential streets on their way to the Décarie expressway.