After more than 50 years, Montreal takes first steps in extension of Cavendish Boulevard

The show is finally getting on the road for a long-delayed extension of Cavendish Boulevard that would make travel easier between Côte Saint-Luc and Saint-Laurent. 

The city of Montreal made the announcement Tuesday, saying it's taken the first steps to link the boulevard, beginning with requesting an environmental assessment.

Currently, the north and south sections of the boulevard are separated by a rail yard, forcing drivers to detour. Initial discussions on connecting its two parts started in the mid-1960s, but the project hit continual snags over the years and never materialized. 

Sophie Mauzerolle, the city's executive committee member responsible for transportation and mobility, says the vision of the project has since changed. 

"It used to be more of a highway project, so in the last mandate, we worked really hard toward a better vision, to work on a vision of mobility access because it's located in a strategic heart of urban development now but also to come," she said, pointing to Montreal's plan to convert a former racetrack site, the Hippodrome de Montréal, into affordable housing.

"We really wanted to bring this project to the 21st century with a public transit project, a project with active mobility, a greener project," she said. 

1 car lane each way unrealistic, CSL mayor says

The new vision for the boulevard, which includes bicycles lanes, pedestrian walkways and rapid transit, also includes just one lane for cars in either direction, something that concerns Côte Saint-Luc Mayor Mitchell Brownstein.

"It doesn't make sense," Brownstein told CBC's Daybreak Thursday morning, noting he's made the expansion project a top priority since assuming office in 2016.

"They're overestimating the amount of people that will use a tramway, or a rapid bus, and underestimating the amount of people that will use a car." 

Much of Côte Saint-Luc is surrounded by train tracks and a rail yard, making the underpasses on Cavendish and Westminster Avenue the only two routes out of a suburban municipality of more than 30,000 people.

Brownstein says he agrees with the need for bike paths, green space and lanes for mass rapid transit but he says the extension should also allow traffic to flow more freely. 

"What happens if you're stuck in traffic, where do those people go? Where do those cars move?" Brownstein said. 

He says the mayors of St-Laurent, the Town of Mount Royal and Côte-des-Neiges also agree that the planned 1.25-kilometre link must include a minimum of two lanes for vehicles in either direction.

They also want the timeline of the now-prioritized project to be seriously bumped up.

"It doesn't make sense for a 1-kilometre road to be planned to be built in 2027," Brownstein said. "We've discussed this for 50 years ... now were dealing with really small details."

"The question for us mostly is add on a lane, keep the rest," he said.