The City of Montreal is working on a road project in the Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve sector, including a scenario that would partially destroy one of the last natural environments in the sector, we have learned. The duty. The plans drawn up by Valérie Plante’s administration provide for an increase in trucking in the neighborhood, but citizens worried about the addition of nuisances to their neighborhood are opposed to the construction of new streets.
The duty has obtained the plans of the “sectoral development vision” of the Assomption-Souligny sector which will be revealed Tuesday evening to the citizens of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.
Two main scenarios will be presented to citizens, including several residents who have been mobilized for several years against road encroachment projects on the Steinberg woodland, but also in opposition to the Ray-Mont Logistiques container transport and transshipment project.
One of the scenarios confirms the information recently published in The duty, namely that the road project would include an extension of Boulevard de l’Assomption which would encroach on the Steinberg woodland, with a semi-circular exit road which would make it possible to reach Avenue Souligny. Part of this green space would therefore be destroyed.
Another scenario provides for the creation of a new road section starting from rue Notre-Dame and running along the eastern portion of the Ray-Mont Logistiques land, then joining avenue Souligny. This option could also channel trucking out of the Port of Montreal, as the City anticipates an increase in industrial traffic in the sector.
In both cases, it is likely that the new road development would require the construction of viaducts to connect Avenue Souligny, according to the plans that will be presented. These infrastructures would therefore be located at the limits of the Steinberg woodland. These viaducts could be necessary to accommodate the railway tracks of the trains which will arrive at the Ray-Mont Logistiques site.
“Green Makeup”
In addition to these new road infrastructures, the City could review Dickson Street and add a “green corridor” which plans to link a portion of land located to the west of the Ray-Mont Logistiques land, in order to link the Steinberg woodland and the Vimont woodland, located further south. A “Hochelaga sustainable mobility corridor” would also be planned for Hochelaga.
Citizens in the area who are opposed to the road additions have already argued that they would not accept “green makeup of the project” to justify the construction of new sections of street, which according to them would add to the issues linked to the implementation of the Ray-Mont Logistiques (RML) industrial project.
Even before the public presentation of the project, Tuesday evening, the citizen group Mobilization 6600 Parc-nature MHM criticized the content of the main scenarios which will be revealed. “Cohabitation between industries and residences, made difficult by the ever-increasing expansion of the Port of Montreal, requires that we not add infrastructure that encourages such expansion,” argued its co-spokesperson, Cassandre Charbonneau-Jobin. . “Even if the City decides to preserve green spaces, we will not accept that the Souligny highway enters deeper into the neighborhood to get closer to our residences. »
“Nuisance”
A document from the City of Montreal designated as “confidential” and for “internal use” only had already taken note of the potential nuisances linked to a project already in progress, Ray-Mont Logistiques, which is located on the borders of a residential neighborhood . “The arrival of RML in the sector will induce rail traffic not seen in the sector since the years of Canadian Steel Foundries”, a company which occupied the same site until 2004.
“This activity will inevitably cause nuisance to the surrounding area”, underlines the document, referring to the passage of 100 wagons per day, which will cause “multiple nuisances [bruit, poussières, pollution lumineuse] “. The Legault government authorized a first phase in 2022, which allows the storage of 5,000 containers on the site as well as the transit of 1,500 trucks each day.
Despite repeated requests from residents of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, the Legault government has repeatedly refused to carry out an environmental assessment of all the impacts of this industrial project. Such an examination could have been conducted by the Office of Public Hearings on the Environment if Quebec Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, had demanded it.
Previously, the Quebec Court of Appeal had also required the City of Montreal to provide the municipal authorizations that the developer requested. The latter nevertheless initiated a $373 million lawsuit against the City because of its long wait in the authorization process.
The presentation of road development options for the sector takes place Tuesday evening, but the City plans to continue discussions over the coming months before deciding on the final plan.