Summit on construction sites | Montreal wants to “change eras” in terms of work management

Exigences de « maintien de la circulation », délai maximal de 24 heures pour installer et démonter la signalisation, augmentation des constats d’infraction : Montréal veut « changer d’ère » en matière de gestion des zones de travaux. Prête à « collaborer », l’industrie de la construction appelle toutefois à la prudence. Survol en six points.

Des exigences pour la circulation

« Ce ne sont pas tant les chantiers en tant que tels, le problème, mais tout ce qui les entoure : les cônes, les entraves, la communication », a lancé la mairesse Valérie Plante, en lever de rideau du Sommet sur les chantiers. Son administration exigera dorénavant un « plan de maintien de la circulation comme condition à l’obtention d’un permis sur les artères prioritaires ». Ce plan devra « préciser clairement où la circulation est bloquée, et les [déviations] “. Around 55,000 permits were issued in 2022, of which 42% came from the City of Montreal, 34% from the private sector and 20% from “public utility companies” such as Hydro-Québec.

An eye on inactive construction sites

Montreal also wants to find solutions to fight against the “significant number of ghost construction sites”. The City intends to set in motion a “maximum delay of 24 hours” – this figure was first 12 hours at the start of the day, but was later raised – for the installation and dismantling of construction site signage. The City also proposes “to grant additional powers to its Mobility Squad”. The organization could now “demobilize inactive construction sites and withdraw occupancy permits from the public domain after two unjustified notices of inactivity”, with the help of new staff who will come in particular from the Taxi Office, dismantled in December. Montreal also suggests “increasing the value of the statements of offense issued by the Mobility Squad”, without however going any further.

“The market will lose interest”

For the director of the Association québécoise des entrepreneurs en infrastructure (AQEI), Caroline Amireault, who represents most of the companies carrying out work awarded by the City, everything is a question of balance. “If there are too many abusive or restrictive clauses, the market will lose interest and we will go elsewhere,” she argues. According to a recent study by the group, 78% of entrepreneurs first choose to go private for their contracts, “because they know there are fewer penalties”. “With the surge in prices in recent months, estimates have to follow. We want to bid with the real prices,” she insists.

“The industry is ready”

At the Société de développement commercial Montréal centre-ville, CEO Glenn Castanheira speaks instead of an “era of collaboration” to begin. “The industry is ready for the bar to be raised. There are builders who are ready to be exemplary in their layout. Having such low standards penalizes those who are exemplary,” he says. Tourisme Montréal calls on the authorities to act quickly. “We hope that these solutions will be applied quickly. Summer is upon us and there are going to be millions of visitors. These visitors must be able to see a city that is clean”, illustrates the spokesperson for the organization, Aurélie de Blois. The CEO of the group, Yves Lalumière, spoke at the end of the day of a “visual trauma” to be deconstructed.

Review our cones

The City also plans to replace its cones on the local network “with smaller bollards or any other safe signaling device”. However, the Ministère des Transports et de la Mobilité durable (MTMD) will first have to modify its signage rules in this area. Many discussions have already been initiated in this direction, confirms the spokesperson for the Ministry of Transport, Sarah Bensadoun. “Having said that, I can’t tell you yet if there will be any changes. We are still having discussions at the moment, ”she says. Montreal also intends to “reduce the number of cones required during obstructions in urban areas”. The City also plans to “identify signaling equipment by a chip or a QR code”.

Disappointment in opposition

A monitoring committee will be set up “in the coming weeks” to ensure that all the measures identified on Thursday are properly applied. Many of them should be “starting this summer”, supports the head of infrastructure, Émilie Thuillier. In the Official Opposition, Councilor Alan DeSousa, for his part, estimated at the end of the Summit that the municipal administration was “coming late to the party “. “These measures should have been put in place long before. […] You cannot manage cities with summits, but by acting quickly when situations arise, ”he concluded.