Fewer pipe breaks
The number of pipe ruptures (“aqueduct breaks”) has halved over the past 10 years in Montreal. According to data from the Water Department, the rupture rate per 100 kilometers of sewers and pipes was only 12.5 last year. This is a considerable improvement over recent years. In 2014, there were around 24 per 100 kilometers. Obviously, the pandemic could have influenced these figures downward due to the absence of vehicles in large numbers, but the fact that the decline continues in 2022 seems to confirm the trend. For Maja Vodanovic, responsible for water on the executive committee, these figures are the result of a cultural change. “Before we adopted a Montreal Water Strategy, we were always dealing with emergency management. That has changed today: we have a very clear picture of all of our aqueducts and we invest where it is most urgent, but also in a preventive way,” she says.
Investments on the rise
Investments are also, more than ever, there. And despite the improvement in the condition of the pipes, Montreal plans to maintain the pace of construction sites.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Water Infrastructure Service will benefit from a budget 30% higher next year than this year.
The Water Infrastructure Service will benefit from a budget of 700 million next year, compared to 573 million this year, an increase of 30% in its resources. “At the time of the mergers, there were around 30 million, to give you an idea,” slips Mme Vodanovic on this subject.
It would be easy to say that we are going to reduce investments, but we would only be shoveling the immense needs that await us ahead. And it would cost even more in a few years.
Maja Vodanovic, mayor of Lachine and responsible for water on the executive committee
In Montreal, with each break in the water distribution network or the sewer network, the impacts on the road network are generally felt quite harshly. In particular, the roadway may sag, which requires more extensive work on a section and causes obstructions and congestion.
Major turn in major arteries
The impact of the increase in construction sites is especially felt on the main arteries of the metropolis, where the condition of the roads has improved further. According to data from the Road Network Infrastructure Service, more than half (54%) were in good or very good condition at the time of the most recent inspection, in 2020. This is significantly more than in 2015. , while barely 21% of arteries obtained such a rating. Generally speaking, major arteries benefit from more sustained investment from the City, as evidenced by the ongoing construction work on Sainte-Catherine Street, for example.
Still a long way to go for local streets
If the main boulevards have benefited from the bulk of the investments, improvements are taking longer on local streets. The proportion of local streets in poor or very poor condition increased from 30% to 37% between 2010 and 2022 in the metropolis. “This is worrying because it suggests that the City sometimes waits too long, until the network is in very poor condition, to repair it. There is a tendency to correct, this is not a good practice. Maintenance must be recurring,” says CAA-Quebec spokesperson David Marcille. “We need more money at the local level,” says Maja Vodanovic. “Our local budget has not increased since the mergers. Just in Lachine, we have 3.7 million to build our streets, maintain our buildings and our parks. It’s like impossible. It has never been revised and it is clearly insufficient with today’s costs,” insists the municipal representative.
Less frequent potholes
After a respite from the pandemic, the number of potholes has started to rise again, but remains relatively low compared to 2020. During operations carried out last winter, Montreal counted 125,000 of these holes in the roadway and their blocking cost taxpayers $3.5 million. This is more than in 2021 and 2022, but significantly less than in 2019 and 2020, where we had to tackle 175,000 and 150,000 potholes respectively. In 2017, this figure had even exceeded the 200,000 mark. As a general rule, fewer potholes also mean fewer complaints and less expenses, since each motorist whose vehicle is damaged by a hole in the road is entitled to claim compensation from the City’s 311 service.
