“Finally, we will start the work. The Minister of Transport, François Bonnardel, on Friday launched phase 1 of the extension of Highway 19 between Laval and Bois-des-Filion, hoping to materialize a project that has been the subject of discussions for decades.
This first work blitz, which will cost 60 million and will last until 2023, consists essentially of the construction of four new interchanges on boulevard Dagenais Est, rue Saint-Saëns Est, boulevards des Laurentides / Mille-Îles. and Boulevard Adolphe-Chapleau. The interchange of Autoroute 640 and Route 335 will also be repaired.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY THE MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT
A new road will also be erected between the Dagenais East axis and Boulevard Industriel. “We will have three lanes on each side, including lanes reserved for public transport and electric cars,” Mr. Bonnardel raised on this subject, also promising to make room for pedestrians and cyclists.
As planned, an incentive parking lot will be installed at the northeast intersection of highways 19 and 640, while a new bridge will be built east of the Athanase-David bridge, over the Mille Îles river. Finally, “noise barriers” will be installed in “different sectors” around the highway.
Ottawa is contributing $ 260 million to the project as a whole, the approximate cost of which was estimated at around $ 700 million a few years ago. The updated cost was not revealed on Friday, as tenders are still pending.
A question of “political will”?
In the political world, discussions surrounding the extension of highway 19, on the northern crown, have been taking place since the 1960s. “Some people here have been talking about it since even before I was born,” the new mayor also quipped on Friday. from Laval, Stéphane Boyer, 33 years old.
Several governments have indeed promised to make this project a reality throughout history, without this ever actually taking place. “It is a question of political will,” Minister Bonnardel replied on Friday, assuring that this time will be the right one.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND
Minister François Bonnardel alongside the new mayor of Laval, Stéphane Boyer, and federal minister, David Lametti.
From the former Liberal Minister of Transport Julie Boulet, in 2007, to Prime Minister Jean Charest in 2010, to PQ Minister Sylvain Gaudreault in 2013, including Prime Minister Philippe Couillard in 2018, “everyone announced a first shovelful of earth, ”admitted Mr. Bonnardel.
I had told my teams that the day we held a press briefing to announce the start of the work, there would be a glitch in the yard. And that’s what we see today: there are tractors, there are workers on the site. We begin.
François Bonnardel, Minister of Transport
However, several considerations are in order. Already in 2015, the Office of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE) invited the Ministry of Transport (MTQ) to review its project. “While recognizing the urgency to act, a more in-depth comparative analysis is required between two-lane motorway or urban boulevards scenarios, including that with flat crossroads and interchanges,” the organization explained in particular.
At the time, the extension project that had been authorized by the Couillard government was, however, identical, or almost identical, to the original project that the Office of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE) had rejected, asking Quebec to return. to do one’s homework.
This time, François Bonnardel promises that the site will be “carbon neutral”. “We really want to achieve the zero GHG index, so we are going to plant a lot of trees to compensate for the loss of wetlands that there could be on the various works,” he said.
Highway 19: section by section
Beginning of the 60s: First work on Highway 19. Originally, the project will link Taschereau Boulevard, on the South Shore, to the city of Saint-Jérôme, in the Laurentians.
1970 : The first section of the A19, including the Papineau-Leblanc bridge, to Boulevard Henri-Bourassa in Montreal, is open.
1973 : The government of Quebec expropriates a whole part of downtown Bois-des-Filion and land in Laval to extend the highway. This wound is still alive in the history of the city, 45 years later.
1976 : Autoroute 19 goes to Autoroute 440 in Laval.
1989 : Numerous ad hoc redevelopments are being carried out on route 335 to meet the ever-growing automobile demand.
2004 : The fifth section, up to Boulevard Dagenais, is open.
2008 : A sixth section is added between Autoroute 640 and Boulevard Adolphe-Chapleau (route 344) in Bois-des-Filion. Route 335 is widened to four lanes.
2010 : Quebec is relaunching the project to complete Highway 19 to Bois-des-Filion.
2014 : Consultations with the Office of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE) reveal significant reservations about the project.
January 2015 : The BAPE concludes that there is a need for intervention by the Ministry of Transport (MTQ) in the highway corridor, but recommends a new comparative study of highway and urban boulevard scenarios.
August 2015 : The MTQ announces in a press release that it is carrying out an analysis on the feasibility of an urban boulevard as part of the highway 19 completion project.
2017 : The environmental assessment of the project by the Ministry of the Environment is suspended, at the request of the MTQ. The file was “reactivated” in April 2018.
May 26, 2018 : The Ministry of the Environment recommends the completion of the four-lane motorway project with lanes reserved for public transport.
July 3, 2018 : The liberal government of Philippe Couillard adopts a decree of realization for the completion of the highway.