Trams. Lots of trams. And metro extensions. The City of Montreal foresees the creation of a major rail transport network in neighborhoods currently poorly served by heavy transport, reveals a document made public in recent days.
The map, attached to an official report which must be adopted at the next meeting of the urban council, shows the public transport that the Plante administration dreams of by 2050.
MONTREAL AGGLOMERATION INFOGRAPHIC
Vision of public transport development in Montreal by 2050
Montreal hopes to be able to offer an “enhanced service offering [qui] relies on metro network extensions”, notably the blue line westwards to Lachine, the orange line (beyond Côte-Vertu station) to Gouin Boulevard and the green line to the east and north to connect it to the blue line, also extended.
The famous “pink line” with which Valérie Plante gained access to Montreal town hall in 2017 makes a comeback on this map.
“This future vision includes a brand new tram network which adds an intermediate level service offering between the regular bus network and the metro and commuter train networks,” also underlines the document.
The targeted arteries are not identified on the diagram, but we can see a desire to install lines on Henri-Bourassa, Cavendish and Saint-Michel boulevards, on Avenue du Parc, as well as on Notre-Dame streets, Jean-Talon and the Commune, among others. This development would take place in two phases.
The Plante administration did not want to comment on the publication of this map. It must present its 2050 Urban Planning and Mobility Plan by the end of the year, according to the City of Montreal website.
The Press had already revealed that the Plante administration wanted to install a tramway on rue Jean-Talon Ouest, which would notably serve the huge residential development on the racecourse grounds.
“The level of ambition you need to have”
All of these projects will certainly not come to fruition, but it is better to think too big than too small, according to the organization Vivre en ville.
“We will eventually have to make choices, it will be difficult to do everything, but what I like is the level of ambition presented,” reacted Christian Savard, general director of the organization.
This is the level of ambition you need to have. […] This corresponds more closely to the level of ambition that we find in Toronto or Vancouver and which seemed to have disappeared from the map in Montreal since the REM de l’Est was abandoned. I felt a bit of collective discouragement.
Christian Savard, general director of Vivre en ville
An overall vision like this is better than the “section by section, project by project” proposals that currently prevail, he continued. “It doesn’t present the whole picture. For once, we see what a real network could look like. »