Camillien-Houde project may be postponed
The project to reconfigure the roads on Mount Royal and permanently block the Camillien‑Houde to motor traffic may be on hold for the years it takes to work on Docteur‑Penfield beside the McTavish reservoir – and that’s meant to last till the end of 2033.
Ian 15:18 on 2025-08-22 Permalink
I am kind of surprised to hear about the project on Pins given the massive project of getting rid of the flyover which feels like almost yesterday and shot down that whole area for a really long time.
I get that we have essential roadwork to do but even just for the sake of taking the bus downtown can we at least have a moratorium on non-essential projects while so many essential projects are underway, especially given that we apparently lack the foresight in Montreal to be able to do all the things we need to at the same time on the same stretch of road?
Honestly I don’t even care about driving downtown, most people avoid it if they have any sense – but it’s absurd how long it takes just to commute in central Montreal. There is no reason it should take 45 minutes to go from de Maisonneuve to Van Horne on the 80, but that’s what it takes most evenings. The whole point of paying these stupid rents is for the convenience of living centrally.
Joey 15:47 on 2025-08-23 Permalink
On the one hand, the mayor is right to be frustrated that previous administrations punted on maintenance (“The question I’d like us to ask ourselves is how are we forced to do all this work at the same time?” she said).
On the other hand, the work described in the article that will change up the downtown side of the mountain, which I hadn’t heard of before today, seems pretty far from essential. And given the constrained resources and the huge backlog of major infrastructure repairs (what’s the over/under on the number of Metro stations that will be closed for extended periods in the next decade? Twelve?), should probably be reimagined, if not shelved altogether.
Joey 15:48 on 2025-08-23 Permalink
Apologies for the near-duplicate post, please delete!
Joey 15:50 on 2025-08-23 Permalink
@Ian 100%. The middle lane of Parc Ave between Villeneuve and Mount-Royal has been closed for weeks, creating bottlenecks day and night, for no reason – there is no work being done and no relation to the work on Mont-Royal to fix the infrastructure and build a bike path.
I spoke to someone at the borough who said the lane had been closed – for weeks – because Hydro-Quebec was going to be doing some work at some point. Because of the work on St-Urbain (bus lane/bike path) and the closure of the intersections along Mont-Royal between Parc and St-Urbain, Parc is already overwhelmed; closing one lane for one block for no reason is crazy. I can only imagine the reason for this is that the corrupt construction industry demands it.
Kate 20:09 on 2025-08-24 Permalink
Joey, I’ve been in the 55 bus on St‑Urbain a few times recently, where it gets stuck in one lane past the construction area, and have yet to see anyone doing any active work on the road.
I know there are reasons work gets stopped and started and shifted around, but when your bus is inching along it gives a person a little time to think.