Fast road to boondoggleville

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by Kristian Gravenor

A plan to triple the number of vehicles on Notre-Dame east to 180,000 a day has been assailed by a road specialist who believes that the project will cost four times the estimated $263-million. Pierre Brisset also says that the plan, unveiled September 25, contains dangerous exits, lanes that end abruptly and a route that will entail costly and intricate foundation work around the Jacques-Cartier Bridge. "No other city builds highways like this anymore. Nowadays governments put them well away from the urban area," says Brisset, who argues for public transit innovations, including a train circuit that would allow for increased train circulation.

Normand Robert, the head of one of dozens of organizations opposing the proposed Notre-Dame highway--which would look similar to the Décarie expressway--says that improving roads will only accelerate urban sprawl. "We'd like to make transit pass somewhere else so people would consider the east end a calm and secure place to raise families," he says.

Luc Ferrandez, another member of the coalition, says Transport Minister Guy Chevrette doesn't appreciate that a 30 per cent hike in traffic in the last decade is causing urban problems. "He still thinks in the terms of the 1960s. He doesn't care that there's a disaster in the neighbourhood, he's thinking about what's happening beyond here," says Ferrandez. The public is invited to government hearings on the project, which will be held October 18 at 1670 Desjardins at 1:30 p.m. and again at 7 p.m.