Press releases published by Projet Montréal

Plans for the  superhospital have been approved and construction will last four years.  But the MUHC, the GISM consortium who won the PPP bid and the STM have not yet agreed on how to access the Vendôme Metro and trains without walking up stairs and across a huge underground parking lot, which could be avoided with a new elevator exit at the east end of the Metro platforms and a tunnel that skirts the garage. Instead, their current car-centred plan threatens to slow NDG cyclists, buses and drivers, while not providing quick, safe access to the hospital either. So the community must demand ongoing public input to ensure that the access plan benefits all.

First, NDG cyclists will face an increase in traffic on Decarie Boulevard as well as on Sherbrooke and De Maisonneuve with all cars headed to and from the hospital using these streets from the highway ramps, since no progress has yet been made in allowing access from the Turcot area (through a tunnel to the underground parking or the road from de Courcelles in Saint-Henri -which, by the way, the administration of Westmount refuses to open because it touches a corner of their municipality).

But the good news is that cyclist conundrum is the simplest to solve: the bike path on de Maisonneuve that ends before the dangerous 'valley of death' intersection could be extended over Upper Lachine and Decarie Boulevard and thence behind Vendôme metro, whereafter it hooks up easily with the Westmount path.

The worn and too-low Decarie underpass will be rebuilt soon, offering us a great opportunity to add to the bike path, and even widen it enough to allow pedestrians who live below Sherbrooke or in St. Raymond to walk to Vendôme Metro more safely. Further, with an offshoot loop under the east side of the new underpass, we would have the easiest possible way for both NDG and Westmount (or Downtown) cyclists to reach the hospital. Moreover, none of this would interfere with any other aspect of the traffic plan, and as such could be a sign of good faith towards NDG from the MUHC and City hall planners, who, so far, are sticking with a traffic plan that has several controversial effects on NDG buses and drivers.

If NDG is to be inconvienced once the MUHC opens, it would be more acceptable to the community if this new bike and pedestrian link were being inaugurated at the same time.

Secondly, NDG buses risk having slower access to Vendôme metro due to all of the increased car traffic surrounding the MUHC. THe 90 and 104 buses are threatened by the planned closing of Upper Lachine and rerouting to narrow Crowley. But the 102 and heavily used 105 will also be slowed by all traffic on Decarie boulevard between the hospital and the exit and entrance ramps on Sherbrooke, so having cars access the MUHC by way of Turcot helps solve this problem as well. Further, if all the traffic by way of Westmount has to pass by the metro station before turning left onto Decarie to get to the hospital, these bus delays will worsen; if instead some traffic could go down St. Catherine and the Glen Road and access the hospital through the corner of Saint-Henri, it would not change the total amount of MUHC traffic in Westmount anyway; for Westmount residents on Clairemont, Côte St. Antoine and de Maisonneuve near NDG do not want all the traffic either.

Finally, NDG commuters from downtown who get off the 720 on St. Jacques and go under the CP tracks at Decarie or Cavendish have already seen delays with the preparatory electric work, so imagine the bottlenecks when the Decarie underpass is closed for rebuilding, and then when the hospital opens! Such will reduce access between St. Raymond and the rest of NDG for local parents and businesses. Yet, one alternative, adding ramps for bikes and baby carriages to the Melrose tunnel, is still stalled. Our detailed suggestions for alleviating this traffic problem will appear in later columns as the road delays begin. Clearly, there is a need for ongoing public information and dialogue with the residents of NDG. The linking of improvements in bicycle, pedestrian and transit infrastructure to the need for a shift to these modes of transport because of unavoidable hospital car traffic is the lease NDG would expect from the city and MUHC traffic planners.

Peter McQueen is the city councillor for the NDG district.