camillien-houde project might be postponed because of eight-year closure of docteur-penfield ave.: mayor
4 minute read
montreal’s plan to redesign the top of mount royal and permanently close camillien-houde way to cars will be “obviously” postponed now that the city has closed docteur-penfield ave., south of the mountain, for the next eight years, mayor valérie plante said on thursday.
“obviously, work of this magnitude can’t begin at the same time as major work on docteur-penfield,” the mayor told a radio program on 98.5 fm after she was asked about the impact on the camillien-houde project.
“if docteur-penfield is completely closed to traffic, we’ll necessarily adapt the schedule for camillien-houde. i can guarantee that. we’re not going to hold motorists and citizens hostage.”
the city completely closed docteur-penfield between pine ave. and mctavish st. this week to carry out long-planned upgrades to the mctavish reservoir, which channels drinking water to the taps of 1.2 million montrealers. signs posted on docteur-penfield, where it wraps around the reservoir between pine and mctavish, say the work will continue until the end of 2033.
meanwhile, the plante administration’s controversial $88.9-million project to redesign camillien-houde has an initial phase from 2026 to 2027 to remineralize some of the asphalted parking lots near smith house and beaver lake and carry out traffic calming on remembrance rd.
advertisement
the second phase, to start just after the first, involves the reconstruction of camillien-houde to completely close it to motorized vehicle traffic. the work involves building a bike path and, parallel to it, a multi-functional path for pedestrians and other “soft” mobility and adding vegetation. the second phase has been planned to start after montreal hosts the international cycling union’s road world championships in september 2026.
a third phase involves redeveloping the intersection where camillien-houde meets mont-royal ave. and mont-royal blvd.
the camillien-houde project is scheduled to continue until 2029, according to the city’s 10-year capital works program.
at one point in the radio interview, plante seemed to hesitate when asked again if her administration’s plan to close camillien-houde to cars will be postponed, saying “we haven’t reached that point. but for me, it’s something we’re evaluating.”
plante then said the reassessment of the timeline for the camillien-houde project doesn’t necessarily mean postponing work for the entire time that the mctavish reservoir is being renovated.
“the idea here isn’t to prevent people from travelling,” plante said. “the idea is to find solutions. … will this necessarily have an impact on camillien-houde? absolutely.”
advertisement
the mayor also said the city is currently reassessing the calendar for all projects planned in the sector.
“we’re looking at all the schedules,” she said, adding “we’ll have to adapt all the work around it as well.”
while plante didn’t identify specific projects, an examination of the city’s projects planned around the mountain shows there are major obstacles in the pipeline that will affect the flow of vehicle traffic between the east and west sides of the mountain — and not just during construction work.
one of the main alternatives to camillien-houde for vehicle traffic travelling from the east side of the mountain to the west is pine ave., which is slated to undergo a $100-million overhaul that involves removing space for cars between parc ave. and peel st.
the pine project is to carry on from 2026 to 2032, the capital works program shows.
the objectives of the six-year project are to increase green space and space reserved for sustainable mobility, particularly pedestrian and cycling traffic as well as public transit, and reduce space reserved for cars, according to the capital works program. the pine project also encompasses construction work on university st., between milton st. and just north of pine.
advertisement
the other main alternative to camillien-houde is côte ste-catherine rd. , where the city is currently building a two-way bike path, between villeneuve and mont-royal aves.
among its 16 recommendations on accessing the mountain, the office de consultation publique de montréal (ocpm) in 2019 called for maintaining car traffic on camillien-houde and remembrance while lowering the speed limit and designing more space for cyclists and pedestrians to better suit the vocation of mount royal park.
the plante administration’s decision to close camillien-houde to motorized vehicle traffic sparked controversy, with critics contending that city hall was ignoring the ocpm. the decision has also drawn the ire of residents living on the east side of the mountain who say they’ll lose access to the top of mount royal by car and public transit bus.
a member of plante’s projet montréal administration, councillor alexander norris, said in interviews this year that closing camillien-houde will have a “minor” impact on motorists who will have to travel from the east side of the mountain to the west side to access beaver lake via remembrance rd.
“we’re talking about a difference of five to 10 minutes,” norris said in march.
advertisement
some media that test-drove the detour reported it’s more like 13 minutes without traffic. however, the calculations were based on conditions before the closure of docteur-penfield, the coming closure of pine and the permanent removal of traffic lanes on pine and côte ste-catherine.
speaking on the radio on thursday, plante expressed frustration with the backlog of infrastructure work caused by previous administrations, which is causing so many construction zones at the same time.
“the question i’d like us to ask ourselves is how are we forced to do all this work at the same time?” she said.
“it’s not normal that montreal hasn’t done the work continuously. i find it unfortunate, i find it a shame, for montrealers. i understand that for them, it’s a lot of work.”
share story
