Montreal will hold a major summit on road construction sites next year to find solutions to the omnipresence of orange cones in the metropolis, the Plante administration announced on Tuesday.
Updated yesterday at 7:24 p.m.
The event will bring together the city center and the boroughs, as well as major public and private contractors.
“We are coming out of COVID, we are seeing the construction sites resuming, so in 2023, we will be able to hold this summit on the construction sites”, explained Émilie Thuillier, head of infrastructure on the executive committee of Valérie Plante, to the municipal council. “In Montreal, only 30% of the work on our streets is done by the City and its boroughs. And so 70% [sont réalisés par] other work providers. »
Mme Thuillier assured that the City of Montreal was already doing everything in its power to coordinate the sites as best as possible. “Is it easy to manage? Nope ! Because we are dependent on the changes, the deadlines of the other major work providers. Specialized teams are trying to limit the impacts on citizens, she said.
Projet Montréal had pledged to hold such a summit in the first six months of a second term, which began in November 2021. Last week, the opposition harshly criticized this omission.
“We are seeing Projet Montréal twiddling their thumbs while everyone is caught in traffic,” denounced Alan DeSousa, official opposition infrastructure critic. “We don’t just have an administration of immobility, we have an administration of immobility. »
When announcing the summit, Mr.me Thuillier was also answering a question from Mr. DeSousa. “We must put in place today the measures to be able to manage and plan” the sites, he said.
“The City of Montreal is taking the lead,” said Ms.me Thuillier. “We want to work with other work providers so that their work sites are as visible as those of the City of Montreal on the Internet. »
She called on Montrealers to subscribe to City alerts to be informed of last-minute changes in street closures.