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Work on the first métro line extension to be built on the island of Montreal in 40 years will start in earnest next month, along with traffic snarls on Jean-Talon Blvd.
Work on the extension of the Blue Line will start with major excavations at the end of September, blocking traffic on Jean Talon St. at the intersections of Pie-IX and Viau Blvds. Mitigation measures will be put in place and public transit will be rerouted.
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First promised in 2018 after decades of failed pledges, and with a due date of 2026, officials with the Société de transport de Montréal, responsible for the management of the project, announced Friday that the line is expected to go into service as of 2031, with five new stations stretching eastward to Anjou, ending at Highway 25.
“Major construction work and excavation will be under way in the following weeks,” said Maha Clour, lead project director for the Blue Line extension. “And this is mainly due to the fact that we just awarded the main contract for the the Blue Line extension, which is the construction of the backbone of the project, which is the tunnel with most of the excavation done underground with tunnel boring machine.”
The contract for the main tunnel connecting the five stations was awarded to a consortium of builders led by Pomerleau, and including a European firm specializing in constructing and managing tunnelling machines.
The total cost, first estimated at $3.9 billion, then increased to $6.4 billion in 2022, is now projected to be $7.6 million, with post-pandemic rises in the cost of labour and materials accounting for the majority of the increase, Clour said.
When finished, the new stations are expected to see close to 69,000 passengers a day, with roughly 20,000 riding during rush hour periods.
In total, nearly eight kilometres of tunnels will be dug at a depth of up between 17 and 40 metres deep. A tunnelling machine imported from Europe will dig the subway line, excavate rock and put up the concrete walls — all at the same time — is projected to advance at a rate of 12 metres a day. It will bore a tunnel roughly 10 metres in diameter.
This story will be updated.
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