Montreal's mobility issues have worsened, Chamber of Commerce says

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While the number of abandoned orange cones is down by half, traffic congestion and the coordination of construction work in downtown Montreal have gone from bad to worse over the past two years, the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal said Tuesday.

The chamber made public its third report on traffic congestion and road work — which it calls its annual “barometer” — in as many years on Tuesday, and this one concludes once again that the situation is worsening.

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The report claims construction sites are even more numerous, disorganized and dirty than two years ago. Streets recently paved are being torn up anew, and new sidewalks are already cracked. Materials are still being delivered at rush hour and no plan has been implemented to stagger road work or attenuate nuisances. Signage is often ugly and/or wrong, and the information the city does provide to follow the evolution of road work is difficult for the public to access.

“It’s worse,” said chamber president Michel Leblanc in an interview. “That’s what surprised us. Because when we published our first report (in fall of 2022), the city said they would take note. They held a summit a few weeks later where the government of Quebec committed to making certain changes. The city said they would bring in tools to co-ordinate the road work to improve the situation and eventually there would be less roadwork going on.

“Two years later, there is no coordination of roadwork. … In downtown Montreal, nine major streets out of 10 … were under construction at one point or the other in the last year.”

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He said the number of kilometres of blocked streets in downtown Montreal increased by 25 per cent in the past two years. Surveys by the chamber show that respondents are unhappy with the state of traffic in the region, with 55 per cent under the impression there are more work sites than last year, and 68 per cent saying they’ve seen “ghost work sites” (blocked streets with no work is being carried out).

Too often, orange cones used to delineate work sites are abandoned by those who set them up, he said. Or work sites are abandoned for weeks on end. In 2023, Mayor Valérie Plante promised to abolish these “zombie construction sites” but Leblanc said they still occur.

Construction work takes too long and is too expensive in Quebec, he added, blaming this on an industry that has been slow to adopt new technologies.

The chamber is asking the city to stop removing traffic lanes from roadways to make room for bike lanes or widened sidewalks, until a traffic fluidity plan is established.

“We support a safe urbanism that integrates diverse modes of transit,” Leblanc said in a written statement. “However, this should not be systematically done to the detriment of traffic fluidity, and especially in the downtown core.”

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In an interview with the Gazette Tuesday, Leblanc again denied rumours that he intends to run for mayor in municipal elections next fall.

Other suggestions from the report include: limit the number of permits issued to construction companies for occupation of public space, communicate road blockages and detour advice more clearly, establish clear rules for the use of orange cones, and put bar codes on the cones so that companies that abandon them can be fined.

One positive note in the report was a reduction in the number of abandoned traffic cones in downtown Montreal. In the area delineated by Sherbrooke St., Guy St., Drummond St. and René-Lévesque Blvd., there were 507 abandoned cones counted in 2023 and only 232 in 2024.

And the percentage of major streets within that area that were blocked due to construction at some point during the year went from 94 per cent in 2022 to 87 per cent in 2024.

A spokesperson for the administration of Mayor Valérie Plante seized on that good news when asked to comment on the report.

“Our administration has always made mobility a priority,” Béatrice Saulnier-Yelle wrote. “That said, we welcome the fact that the Chamber of Commerce recognizes that our significant efforts are bearing fruit today: the percentage of blocked thoroughfares has decreased and the presence of cones has been reduced by half. However, we are aware that improvements are still needed: site management remains a major challenge.

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She pointed out that construction sites are essential to maintain and repair the city’s infrastructure.

“Unlike previous administrations, ours has taken responsibility for making up for a maintenance deficit that has accumulated for years. Today, 75 per cent of our assets are in good or very good condition, but the remaining 25 per cent require interventions to avoid critical situations.”

She referenced the geyser that happened when a water pipe burst near the Jacques-Cartier Bridge last August. And a major sinkhole appeared on Peel St. in 2013 when a sewer pipe collapsed.

She claims the Plante administration has, contrary to what Leblanc claims, cracked down on construction chaos.

“Our administration has taken the management of the construction sites head-on: we have mobilized all the actors involved and put in place new standards to better supervise the construction sites and limit their impact on citizens. These efforts mark a change in culture that will, however, take time. Remember that only 30 per cent of the construction sites are the responsibility of the city.”

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She said the number of vehicles in Montreal continues to increase, which is the main factor in road congestion. “The development of public transit and active transport are thus necessary.”

A report by the Montreal Metropolitan Community puts the number of cars or light trucks per 1,000 residents in the Greater Montreal region at 491 in 2020, up from 424 in 2001.

According to statistics provided by the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM), traffic congestion costs the region over $6 billion per year. The cost doubled between 2008 and 2023.

The Montreal metropolitan area ranks second among the most congested Canadian cities and 30th in the world, according to a recent report by INRIX, an American company that specializes in mobility and traffic analysis. That report put the annual average of lost time per motorist at 57 hours in 2023.

mlalonde@postmedia.com

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