Opposition calls for better traffic plan around Royalmount

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A day after the Montreal mayor called the area around Décarie Expressway one of the most congested in Canada, the opposition challenged her to do something about it.

On Wednesday, Valérie Plante said the traffic around the new Royalmount megamall, which opened on Thursday, as among the worst in the country, urging people to take public transit to do their shopping.

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However, opposition critic Alan DeSousa said Thursday that Plante has known about the traffic problems around the Décarie circle for years and has done nothing to improve the situation.

“Wherever you look, development is being planned and this development has been foreseen for years,” DeSousa said. “With Royalmount, and with back to school, traffic is back to prepandemic levels. And with the development happening in the area, it will only increase, so unless measures are put in place quickly, this area will be a significant bottleneck on the island of Montreal.”

He said several measures are long-term projects, such as the long-delayed Cavendish Blvd. extension, which could serve as an alternative to the Décarie Expressway for some commuters and add a public transit corridor. However, other measures can be put in place quickly to make a big difference.

Longtime traffic consultant and former CJAD helicopter traffic reporter Rick Leckner, who joined DeSousa in the news conference, said he has for years urged the Plante administration to make minor changes to the area that he believes would greatly relieve congestion. Among them: banning right-hand turns onto Jean Talon St. from the northbound Décarie service road during rush hour as traffic at that corner backs up for several blocks when there is heavy traffic.

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“The configuration is horrible,” he said. “Can they rebuild it in the short term? No. They have known this problem existed and did nothing, but in the short term there are solutions.”

He said traffic lights can be better synchronized in the area and street parking should be removed on side streets crossing Décarie like Plamondon Ave. and Vézina St.

“They need to put some engineers there and take some drastic measures because the situation is going to get worse.”

DeSousa said Royalmount is just one of several major developments in progress or being planned around the Décarie Expressway. There are also the Cité Midtown condos in St-Laurent, the Décarie Square redevelopment and the Plante administration’s master plan unveiled this year to build 20,000 housing units in the Namur-Hippodrome sector. Taken together, tens of thousands of new housing units and other commercial developments are being planned for the area between the Décarie Interchange and Jean Talon St., and the city has to take into account that the area will become even more saturated.

“We have a report initiated by the Plante administration and done by (urban studies professor) Florence Junca-Adenot. We also have the Office de consultation de publique de Montréal report, and they all talk about the needs for the area and how you need to have a credible transport plan for the area,” DeSousa said. “The Cavendish extension has also been recommended. Let’s not reinvent the wheel. The research has been done. Let’s make sure that we execute what is in the report before we add on more pressure in the area.

“If the infrastructure and transport is not put in place, then we will be playing catch-up and we will be suffering.”

Catherine Cadotte, a spokesperson for the Plante administration, did not respond to written questions about the traffic in the area by the time of publication.

jmagder@postmedia.com

twitter.com/jasonmagder

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