Montreal's Blue Line métro extension ready to move forward

“It’s been too long that the citizens of the east have been waiting, and patience obviously has its limits,” said Quebec’s transport minister.

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, left, and Quebec Transport Minister Chantal Rouleau, far right, hold the latest map of the Blue Line of the Montreal métro on March 18, 2022, with Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, right, and STM chairman Éric Alan Caldwell . Photo by Pierre Obendrauf /Montreal Gazette

Following decades of empty promises, all three levels of government came together Friday to announce — once again — that the extension of the Blue Line on the Montreal métro will be moving forward.

As initially planned, the extension will span nearly six kilometers, adding five universally accessible metro stations between the existing St-Michel stop and the Galeries d’Anjou mall in the east-end boroughs of St-Léonard and Anjou. It’s now expected to be in service as of 2029 — three years later than the date first announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former Quebec premier Philippe Couillard in 2018.

“I assure you that this time, it’s true,” said Chantal Rouleau, Quebec’s transport minister and minister responsible for the Montreal region, at a news conference alongside other government officials on Friday. “It’s been too long that the citizens of the east have been waiting, and patience obviously has its limits.”

In the spring of 2021, when construction for the Blue Line extension was scheduled to begin, Montreal and Quebec announced the creation of a working group to re-evaluate the project and come up with improvements, including ways to reduce the price tag as costs continued. to balloon.

“When the city saw the price of the project going up and it was questioned, I wrote to the premier of Quebec to propose for all partners to work together to find solutions, and he answered my call,” Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said Friday. “Over the past year, we have worked extremely hard.”

The improvements resulting from the evaluation mainly include an updated plan for the Galeries d’Anjou station, placing it beneath Highway 25 and including entrances on both its east and west sides, in addition to removing the incentive parking lot. The optimized plan will also keep the shopping center at the intersection of Jean-Talon St. and Pie-IX Blvd. intact, and it will connect the REM de l’Est to the planned Lacordaire Blvd. métro station.

Factoring in interest and inflation, the new maximum estimate for the project is $6.4 billion. The former Quebec Liberal government had estimated the cost at $3.9 billion, but in 2019 it was revealed the price tag could increase by at least $600 million because of higher-than-expected expropriation costs and tax bills. The revision amid the pandemic that prompted the creation of the working group saw the estimated price increase to more than $7 billion.

Plante said the groups — including the Société de transport de Montréal, the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain, the City of Montreal and the Société québécoise des infrastructures, among others — turned over every stone in the last year.

“And today, I think we have an excellent project that doesn’t question the quality of the project and that maintains all five stations. You’ll remember that it was an important, essential condition for us at the City of Montreal,” she said.

The stations will be located along Jean-Talon St. at the intersections of Pie-IX, Viau, Lacordaire and Langelier Blvds. and at the Galeries d’Anjou mall.

“Public transit will become the main choice in the east of Montreal, contrary to the car of today,” said Éric Alan Caldwell, chairman of the board of directors for the STM.

Aref Salem, leader of the official opposition at City Hall, said in a statement he “hopes this time will be the right one” for the project, reiterating past criticism of Plante for her administration’s handling of it.

Rouleau said Friday’s promise is different than those of the past “because the cash is on the table, because the plan is real.” The province announced Friday it is awarding a $1.12-billion grant to the STM “to continue planning the project and fund the métro’s asset maintenance and universal accessibility programs.”

Rouleau said Quebec gave the STM the authorization to move forward with construction, notably to order a tunnel boring machine, which will see construction begin in 2023. (Although some aspects of construction were already underway in preparation for the bulk of the work).

“We have to remember that since 1988, there have been no métro stations inaugurated on the island of Montreal,” Plante said. “Thirty-four years. That’s a long, long time. And honestly, when we look around the world, we see that other large metropolises, often the size of Montreal, they continuously developed their public transit — but not us. And that means that now, we’re really in catch-up mode.”

The Blue Line extension is estimated to draw more than 25,000 users, taking approximately 5,300 cars off the road. It will allow users to travel from Galeries d’Anjou to the Jean-Talon station within about 15 minutes.

“The people of the east of Montreal are tired of broken promises,” Rouleau said. “The wait is over.”

With files from the Montreal Gazette’s René Bruemmer and Jason Magder.

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