Eastern structuring project | A more expensive, but larger tramway

The eastern Montreal tramway will cost nearly six billion more than expected, but its redesigned route will generate greater ridership, we learned The Press. This is the bet of the Regional Metropolitan Transport Authority (ARTM), which must unveil its final proposal this Friday. An underground part will be integrated under the Rivière des Prairies and several new stations will be added.

“We are quite sure that this time, it’s the right one,” says the director general of the Regional Metropolitan Transport Authority (ARTM), Benoît Gendron, in an interview. “For us, social acceptability is acquired. We examined five scenarios and this is the one that rallies the most people. Everyone, federal, provincial and municipal, supports the project very strongly. »

This is the third version of the Eastern Structuring Project (PSE) since July, the first, 100% underground and costing 36 billion, having received an unfavorable reception from the government. Then the idea of ​​a 13 billion tramway, 31 kilometers and 28 stations emerged at the beginning of January, after revelations from The Press.

Unless there is a change, the project will be 38 km long and will have 31 stations. The distance between each station will thus increase from 1100 to 1270 m. Total cost: 18.6 billion, including 6.7 billion in construction, 4.4 billion in indexing and a risk provision of 3.8 billion.

“We put everything on the table,” says Mr. Gendron, who takes care to point out that the model of the Caisse de dépôt and its Réseau express métropolitain (REM) does not require as much transparency.

On the island of Montreal, the route will be similar to the initial scenario, along the axis of Maurice-Duplessis and Lacordaire boulevards, as well as Sherbrooke Street East, between Marie-Victorin CEGEP and Pointe-aux-Trembles station, along the green metro line.

The connection of the tramway with the Montreal metro will still be on two lines: first, with the future Lacordaire station, included in the extension of the blue line whose work is due to end in 2030, then with the Cadillac and Langelier stations. , Radisson and Honoré-Beaugrand, on the green line.

New products and more traffic

However, several new features will be added to the PSE project, including a new station in Montreal East to serve the citizens of this municipality where major developments are planned.

In Repentigny, where the tramway was to pass through Rue Notre-Dame, Mayor Nicolas Dufour seems to have been heard. The elected official said he feared the construction of new condos on this already overloaded artery. The tram will now run along Highway 40 and the municipality will have two stations, one at Repentigny station, the other at the corner of Boulevard Brien, where a real estate project is expected.

“There, we give ourselves the chance to succeed,” judged Mayor Nicolas Dufour, when contacted by telephone. “When driving on the 40, people will wonder why they are in their car when they see a tram traveling at high speed. »

Another major fact: the underground mode, which had been completely evacuated until now, will be back in the project from 81^e Avenue. “We will dive under the green spaces of the eastern end of Montreal to cross the Rivière des Prairies and emerge on the side of the northern crown, in the Lachenaie sector in Terrebonne, where there is of course the Pierre-Le-Hospital. Gardeur and the university center that UQTR wants to develop,” explains the head of the PSE, Marc Dionne on this subject.

From Lachenaie, the trains would return to the surface to go to Repentigny, he specifies. “We are confident that it meets the needs of citizens. The stations are in the right place, with the right mode for anticipated ridership. It’s a backbone in terms of development,” notes Mr. Dionne.

These changes would increase ridership from 86,000 to nearly 97,000 users per day, according to the ARTM, which anticipates 30,000 trips during the morning rush hour, compared to 26,000 in the old version.

The time saving compared to existing public transport would be 10 to 22 minutes, while compared to the car, it would be up to an hour faster. Around 22% of PSE users would eventually abandon their car.

Deliver “as quickly as possible”

For the moment, the target timetable remains around 2035 or 2036, but Benoît Gendron admits that the arrival of the transport agency, supposed to reduce delays and costs, could “accelerate” the work. The Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, has already expressed the wish that the PSE be one of the first projects of this future agency.

“At first glance, the proposal takes into account our commitments: to open up and redevelop eastern Montreal and connect Lanaudière to a structuring transport network. The PSE will have to move forward,” for its part reacted the cabinet of Mr.^me Guilbault, who had been at the heart of the debates for achieving a “financially responsible” cost a few months ago.

Mr. Gendron is categorical. “We want the project to be delivered to citizens as quickly as possible. The next step is the preliminary draft [APP], therefore to finalize the routes, validate the development hypotheses, in short to move forward in the engineering. We want to continue,” he says.

His group also claims to have identified other “development prospects”, including the extension of a reserved lane on highways 25 or 640 and an extension of the PSE to the Mascouche station.

As for an extension towards the city center, ruled out since the withdrawal of CDPQ Infra in May 2022, it could be done via the Dickson and Notre-Dame axes, but only “when the traffic on the green line makes it necessary”, concludes Marc Dionne.