roadwork redo case no. 4: the $5-million mobility corridor on st-urbain is temporary
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the city began installing a three-kilometre "sustainable mobility corridor" on st-urbain st., between bernard and milton sts., this year.
pierre obendrauf
/
montreal gazette
montrealers who think the city does construction work over and over on the same streets: it’s not your imagination.
the gazette has reviewed a handful of recent roadwork projects to understand how and why this phenomenon occurs. here is case no. 4.
location:
st-urbain st., plateau-mont-royal borough
the issue:
the city began installing a three-kilometre “sustainable mobility corridor” on st-urbain st., between bernard and milton sts., this year. the project widens an existing bike path and adds bollards and concrete barriers. it also adds bus stop bays, a reserved public transit bus lane during morning rush hour and brings traffic lights up to standard. the $5-million project, to be completed in december 2026, removes nearly 450 parking spaces. but the installations are temporary. st-urbain has a 140-year-old underground water main that’s 40 years beyond a water main’s usual lifespan. as well, some buildings still have lead entry pipes.
the kicker: the city did major roadwork on sections of st-urbain in 2022. a city policy places a five-year moratorium on major roadwork on streets where it has already done major work. the policy means the city can’t schedule replacement of the water main within five years of the 2022 roadwork.
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the city’s explanation:
the city has no plans to replace the water main dating from 1886 for several years anyway. “no work is currently planned on the sewer and water infrastructure on st-urbain, either in 2028 or in the years following,” city spokesperson hugo bourgoin said.
since the “sustainable mobility corridor” doesn’t involve excavation, the city was able to quickly improve cycling and public transit on a dangerous street that saw three fatal accidents in the past decade. the bus lane will improve punctuality. the city had a “window of opportunity” to do the project because major work is planned on parallel streets in 2026, 2027 and 2028.
what the critics say:
the city will be back to replace the 140-year-old water main whether it schedules the work or is suddenly forced to by a break, says the association des scientifiques et ingénieurs de montréal, the union representing the city’s municipal engineers. the city will also return at some point to replace remaining lead entry lines. had the city planned properly, it could have dealt with the aged water main and made a safer bike path before the five-year roadwork moratorium kicked in, the city engineers’ union says.
building temporary infrastructure wastes materials and is not sustainable development, the conseil du patrimoine de montréal (cpm), the city’s independent heritage advisory body, said in a report approving the bike lane but criticizing the city’s temporary approach. the cpm had to be consulted because st-urbain is in the mount royal heritage site.
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the details:
the city awarded a $5.18-million contract to environnement routier nrj inc. in april to do the st-urbain project “as well as other interventions at various locations” in montreal.
“if the st-urbain st. project had required a short-term reconstruction of the street, we would have taken the opportunity to work on this century-old infrastructure, but the work consists more of a surface redevelopment with work described as ‘light,'” bourgoin said.
however, the cpm chastised the city, saying the project to build the sustainable mobility corridor “still includes relatively extensive work.”
“the cpm regrets that the project, designed as temporary, is not part of a longer-term and broader planning approach and development vision,” the report said.
the city did not include the cpm’s report in the civil service file that was presented to city council to award the st-urbain contract.
“the opinion being favourable,” bourgoin said of the cpm report, “it was considered that its inclusion in the decision summary was not essential.”
the upshot:
the city will be back again someday to tear up st-urbain to replace lead pipes and the 140-year-old water main.
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