MONTREAL:Four toll projects

The Plan involves a total $5,630m of road projects (US$ based on C$=US67c) of which the toll projects are estimated at $1,350m. The plan lists $1,760m of transit projects.

Of the toll projects the new St Lawrence River bridge (4 on map, p5) is the most expensive – estd at $435m. And apparently this is the least certain because no alignment has been identified.

An English language summary only mentions two private sector concession projects: the A-25 and the new St Lawrence River bridge. Are the other two reserved for French-speaking concessionaires? (Quebeckers: Excuse si’l vouz plait cette joke anglaise et paranoide.) The French text puts considerable emphasis on the importance of completion of the A-30 (1 on map, p5) to provide the south bank with its first continuous east-west highway and high quality connections to the west. It would also be something of a southern beltway for the whole metro area.

This requires two new stretches of motorway: (1) 7.5km (5mi) of missing link in the Sainte Catherine area, along the route of QC-132, and (2) a 35km (22mi) extension of the A30 from Chateauguay over two strands of the St Lawrence at their entry into Lake Sainte Louis via the island of Saint Timothie, ending at the A20/A540 interchange in Vaudreuil-Dorion.

The report says that the A40 or Autoroute Metropolitaine, the major existing east-west motorway will not be able to handle all new passenger and freight transport needs, especially on its central portion between A13 and A25. The Greater Montréal area has only one direct, continuous east-west link.

“The ministère des Transports’ desire to foster competitiveness is reflected in measures aimed at ensuring the smooth flow of goods to and from the Greater Montréal area or across its east-west axis. Manufacturing accounts for a large part of the area’s economic base. Among manufacturers’ shipments from the five administrative regions that lie wholly or partially within the Greater Montréal area, those from Montréal and Montérégie account for nearly 85% of total exports of manufactured goods and the bulk of shipments by value to Québec as a whole (90%), the United States (73%), Ontario and western Canada (87%).”

“The completion of A30 could provide an alternate solution in respect of an uninterrupted autoroute along the east-west axis. The project would require the construction of a 35-km autoroute segment between Châteauguay and A20 in Vaudreuil-Dorion, at an anticipated cost of roughly $360m. A30 was originally intended to link a number of sub-regions in the Montérégie region. Its completion is deemed to be an essential component of the economic and social development of the southwestern portion of the Montérégie region. Moreover, it would make possible the creation of a link between its development centers and other centers in the Greater Montréal area.”

The A40 through central Montreal Island carries up to 170k veh/day. Improvements will be limited to an auxiliary lane in each direction and a host of ITS high-tech management techniques to reduce incidents and steer motorists away from congestion. On Montreal island the A20/A720 carries up to 140k veh/day and it too will receive minor upgrades.

Another potential toll project called “Prolongement de l’A25" (2 on map) is a direct connector between two circuitously connected sections of this north-south trending road. The A25 presently runs 128k veh/day at its busiest point near the A40. This project involves 6km (4mi) of urban motorway and a new bridge over the Riviere des Prairies – a strand of the St Lawrence system that separates the island of Montreal from Laval to the immediate northwest. A25 Lavel-Anjou is a $220m project.

The Champlain bridge (3 on map) carries the A10 and traffic between the south bank and the center of Montreal. The upgrade consists mainly of special managed lanes and the pressing into service of an ‘ice boom’ structure to carry new traffic lanes.

The report says experience in recent years, elsewhere in Canada, and abroad, has shown that “partnership with the private sector has led to savings, access to new sources of funding and acceleration of high-priority projects.”

“The anticipated projects to be carried out under public-private partnerships must satisfy the objectives of the plan and offer strong potential for profitability, in keeping with social equity and environmental quality objectives. They must also enhance funding formulas and traffic conditions for road and mass transit users and promote technological innovation.” (Contact Maria Soteriades, Ministry of Transport 514 873-2965 msoteriades@mtq.gouv.qc.ca www.mtq.gouv.qc.ca/regions/montreal/plan_en.htm)

BACKGROUND: Montreal is the leading city of Quebec and the metro area has a population of 3.3m. Despite an extensive metro-rail system and strong landuse controls business, jobs have been dispersing, rail transit use declining, and auto use increasing. The ministry of transport plan assumes area trips involving Montreal Island (with 2m of the area’s 3.3m pop) will decline from 71% to 66%.

“This situation can be explained by significant population growth in the suburbs at a time when population growth in the urban core will more or less stagnate. In addition, most of the new trips anticipated will be effected, increasingly, by car... (The) number of trips to the (downtown) area will stagnate and its importance in the region will decline. Saint-Laurent and Côte-des-Neiges, Ahuntsic and Acadie, Mercier, the east and west ends of the island, downtown Laval and the Champlain (municipalities) will become increasingly important destinations, mainly for work and study. Current trends point to more widespread use of passenger vehicles.”

Trucking is on a roll too, in large measure because of free trade with the US.

In just six years 1990 to 1996 Quebec’s exports to the US doubled from $13b to $27b; the trade surplus with the US increased from $5b to $17b. At the same time shipments to the other Canadian provinces stagnated at about $14b. Transport costs range from 4% to 20% of the goods shipped. The ministry says that keeping those costs competitive is “of vital importance” to Québec exporters, since there is stiff competition. 800k jobs in Québec, equivalent to 25% of all employment in the province, are directly tied to exports.

Two-thirds of the $35b of goods traded between Québec and the US go by truck. There is also substantial rail traffic but it is much smaller. The port of Montreal handles over 20m tons worth $8b, half containerized, and the two airports of Dorval and Mirabel airports handle, a smaller weight, but similar value, of airfreight.

Internal Montreal area surface trips are about 7.7m on the roads each day to about 340k on public transport. With incomes rising and activity centers dispersing to the fringe – in part because of central area congestion – there is a continuing mode shift to road. In the last decade private car trips rose by 1.3m/day from 6.4m, while transit use declined from 400k to 340k. The mode split went from 5.0% transit to 4.2%.

The report engages in all the doctrinally-required planners incantations against the evil sprawl and reciting the need to turn the tide against the awful auto. It includes an array of projects to extend and improve rail transit and busways. But having delivered itself of the pieties, it reconciles itself to the realities: “A high proportion of additional trips will be made by car. Trucking will play a bigger role in the transportation of goods.”

It forecasts that daily trips will increase by 2m to 10m by 2016. Without transport improvements peak periods will be longer and traffic will be heavier: “The number of kilometres of congested routes will quadruple on the road network in metro Montréal. Traffic will gradually increase outside rush hours, along with the number of trips made by car...Trade will increase, which means greater numbers of trucks operating on (roads) in the greater Montréal area. If nothing is done, the situation anticipated in 2016 will have widespread negative repercussions on economic growth and the quality of life. The increase in traffic volume on the road network overall and the resulting congestion will lead to heavier energy consumption. Heavier traffic will engender greater congestion and pollution, a significant factor in the deterioration of the quality of life in urban areas. Average travel time by car in the area will increase from 25 minutes in 1993 to 39 minutes in 2016, which will worsen traffic conditions for trucks. This, in turn, will lead to higher freight shipping costs for companies and a reduction in the Montréal area’s and Québec’s competitiveness.”

They are clearly serious about improving the roads.

A set of three beautifully produced coffee-table books describe the plan called: “Plan de gestion des desplacements: Region metropolitaine de Montreal,” available from the Ministry of Transport of Quebec.