MONTREAL – Work crews are rushing to open the first phase of the new MUHC hospitals at the Glen Yard’s site by next April.
But it appears a major part of the project is being left in the planning stages and may not be ready in time for the grand opening.
Advocates of people with reduced mobility are furious there is no progress to build two new underground passages to link the Vendome metro and train station with the new hospitals.
The future MUHC site is on the other side of the AMT tracks from the Vendome, but people have to walk around the station and hospital parking lots to access the site.
“It’s almost impossible to get to the new children’s hospital right now,” said Ana Maria Guerrero, mother of five-month-old Luna, while carrying her daughter up and down stairs at the Vendome station.
“It’s very sad to see they don’t think about people like me who don’t have a car,” she said.
The government had plans to build the new underground passages equipped with elevators and ramps but those plans have been shelved and there is no indication when the Liberals will secure the funding to build the tunnels.
“This is going to cause a lot of problems in terms of people who are sick, who are in wheelchairs, people coming here with young children. Getting from the metro to the hospital,” said Shannon Franssen, an advocate of people with reduced mobility.
The new passages are expected to cost tens of millions of dollars.
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