WATCH ABOVE: The city of Vaudreuil-Dorion is finally breaking ground on phase two of their construction project on St. Charles Avenue. Rachel Lau has more.
VAUDREUIL-DORION – The city of Vaudreuil-Dorion is finally breaking ground on phase two of a project to expand construction on St. Charles Avenue.
“We started our project four years ago, so now we are very happy,” said Vaudreuil-Dorion Mayor Guy Pilon.
“We received a letter from the Minister de Transport telling, ‘if you are ready to sign, we are willing to do our part,’ so I signed fast!”
The project involves building two new overpasses to replace the current deteriorating one.
“As soon as the new overpass is done, we are going to have a bike path so it will be a lot safer and a lot easier for everyone,” said Pilon.
“I think everyone will be very happy about that.”
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They’ll also be adding two more lanes to the access ramp that leads to the eastbound 40.
“The machines are there, the excavation is beginning, so we are very happy we will have another overpass,” said Pilon.
“That means we will double the capacity going over the 40.”
In a constantly expanding town of 36,000, Pilon explains the plan is to accommodate the growing number of people living in Vaudreuil but who regularly commute downtown.
“Fifty-five per cent of the people who work – the work force of MRC Vaudreuil-Soulanges – go to Montreal every morning,” he said.
It will cost $20.4 million with $15.8 million coming from the province.
The remaining $4.6 million will be funded by the city.
“We’ve already started work on the overpass,” said Marc Côté, the Urban Planning Director, “but we still need to figure out our schedule.”
Thrilled residents say it’s about time construction got started on the problem area.
“It’s opening everything up,” said Murdock Brake.
“It’s a bottle neck over there. So yeah, it should be good.”
“They just widened the lanes coming this way last year which made a huge difference,” agreed Norma Turpin.
“They need to work on going that way.”
Construction is officially set to start on Monday, Feb. 17 to be completed by Spring 2015.
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