CDPQ Infra must try to “reduce at the source” noise and nuisances around residential areas, says Montreal Public Health, which says it is impatient to see the measures that the promoter of the Metropolitan Express Network (REM) will propose in August in Pointe-Saint-Charles, Griffintown and L’Île-des-Sœurs.
“In general, we must reduce at the source, in other words if there are technical aspects that can be modified at the project level to reduce the noise emission, we would keep the noise away from the residences”, explained Thursday the Deputy Medical Director of the Montreal Public Health Department, Dr.r David Kaiser, on the sidelines of a press conference.
He was responding to a report by The Press according to which the REM, which began its final phase of tests on Wednesday before its big departure no later than mid-August, at certain times exceeds the thresholds deemed acceptable by Public Health in terms of noise, a situation that worries some residents. .
Measurements taken on Wednesday with a sound level meter revealed that the noise generated by the REM regularly exceeds 70 decibels, sometimes even the 75 mark. This is the case at the Pointe-Saint-Charles observation belvedere and at the Saint-Patrick, on the border of the same district and Griffintown. These two places are respectively 300 meters and barely a few tens of meters from the rails.
For Mr. Kaiser, the key is to consider several measures. “It is certain that physical barriers, in certain cases, can be useful”, he illustrated in particular, in reference to the noise barrier claimed by many citizens in the Pointe-Saint-Charles sector, among others.
Speed, frequency, rails
In an interview, the public health expert also cited “speed and frequency at certain times of the day” as potential elements for reducing the nuisance associated with REM noise. “After that, there are more technical aspects on the rails, the wheels, there are lots of things we can do, bearing in mind that the impact at 6 p.m. in the evening is not the same. only at midnight”, maintains David Kaiser.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, PRESS ARCHIVES
The Deputy Medical Director of the Montreal Public Health Department, Dr.r David Kaiser
The long-term health impacts of environmental noise “go a lot through sleep disruption” and “cardiovascular disease risk,” he said. According to the Ministry of Health, exposure to noise is indeed associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease “from a level of 55 decibels over a 24-hour period”. “Prolonged exposure to loud noises”, more than 75 decibels for 8 hours a day, can even “cause hearing loss”.
“It’s a bit like with the airport. Nobody likes having a plane fly overhead, but a plane at 7:00 p.m. is not the same as at 1:00 a.m. If we put a real curfew at 11 p.m., the impacts on people’s health, we would reduce them extremely significantly, ”continued the medical director.
For the REM, “I think that we must also see according to the measures that we are going to have”, he insisted. “We will have to really see in detail where the places where we can play on the frequency, the speed and certain technical measures, in a logic where we say to ourselves that the worst will be in the hours when people want to sleep. We are awaiting measures from the promoter, ”he concluded.
In May, CDPQ Infra announced that sound tests would be carried out in Griffintown, Pointe-Saint-Charles and L’Île-des-Sœurs to determine if mitigation measures can be taken. The first results of these tests must be presented to citizens during the month of August.