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Revamping Dorval Circle hits cost overruns and work has even begun
Area will be a construction zone till 2013
JASON MAGDER
The Gazette
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Cars make their way through Dorval Circle. (Gazette file photo)
After decades of delays, work is finally set to start on modernizing the Dorval Circle, and it’s already over it’s original cost estimates.
The project to modernize the interchange and ease traffic flow was initially going to cost about $150 million, but new estimates stand at $224 million.
Transport Quebec says inflation, and the need to build an access link for an eventual high-speed rail link are the reasons for the increased cost.
Nicole Ste-Marie, a spokesperson for Transport Quebec, said other added costs include moving the Via Rail train station and the Dorval bus loop.
Ste-Marie said preliminary work will begin in a few weeks, with the heavy lifting expected to start early next year.
“It’s going to be a construction site until 2013,” Ste-Marie said.
The federal government will spend $75 million on the project. Quebec has promised $89 million, and the city of Montreal will pay $40 million. The Aéroports de Montréal, a private, non-profit company that manages the airport, has pledged $20 million.
When the work starts next year, it will make two major traffic headaches for many West Island residents.
Work on reconstructing the Galipeault Bridge is expected to last until 2010. That means two years when both construction projects will run concurrently on Highway 20.
Ste-Marie said one of the reasons the work on the circle is taking so long is because the province wants to minimize traffic disruptions in a major hub for motorists.
As part of work done this fall, an alternative road will be built to take traffic off the highway and onto Bouchard Blvd.
“There will always be an impact on traffic,” she said, adding that she hasn’t yet seen the traffic impact studies. “We’ll do everything possible to make sure that it’s not too difficult for users.”
Along with a revamp of the circle, the federal, provincial and municipal governments have pledged to build a high-speed rail link from downtown to Dorval.
Stéphanie LePage, a spokesperson for the Aéroports de Montréal, said last week the project is still being studied, and an outline of the plan should be available by the end of the year.
The rail link would serve the downtown-to-Dorval area, and could be extended westward to Ste. Anne de Bellevue.
There are no firm dates as to when such a project would would be completed.