MONTREAL – Honking, the click-clack of rail wheels and shouting, that’s the sound of morning rush hour in Montreal West.
On Westminster South, trains, cars and pedestrians all meet and residents are describing the corner at Avon a nightmare.
“It’s frustrating, we deal with the trains north of our house so if a train goes through that backs everyone up southward,” said resident Marilyn Meikle. “It’s a five-way intersection at the top of our street so we have people trying to get West, trying to get downtown and they’re coming through this tiny little town.”
She says that her 12-minute commute downtown has turned into over a half hour slog.
Two construction projects are creating bottlenecks in this area.
The first is the closure of the Angrignon overpass above Highway 20.
The second, St-Anne-de-Bellevue Boulevard, has been reduced to one lane for the next five years.
Mielke says nobody is listening to residents’ concerns.
“You can go to a municipal council meeting but they’re not necessarily going to change anything,” she said. “They’re just going to tell you, ‘it’s what it is and we’re really sorry. We’re doing our best to help you out but you’re stuck with it.'”
Montreal West Mayor Beny Masella disagrees.
He says that the town has been on this issue since day one.
“We let them know right from the beginning that it wasn’t going to work,” he said. “They put a policeman at the bottom of the hill for traffic, we’ve asked for another one at the intersection at Westminster and Avon to keep the flow going.”
Montreal Police were on the scene this week directing traffic.
They say they know this corner is a problem spot and they’re doing their best to alleviate the pressure.
“There’s a lot of common sectors around here to get to Highway 20 in Montreal West,” said Montreal police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant. “We have Cote-des-Neiges and Notre-Dame-de-Grace and lot of police officers on site to redirect the traffic.”
For many residents, that is simply not enough.
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“You need more than just this,” said Ilan Toledano. His daughter is in Grade 8 at Royal West, only steps away from the intersection. “You need traffic lights, you need more than just one officer to direct traffic you need it at different intersections because you have the trains a block away.”
While there are no plans to re-configure or add lights to the intersection yet, Masella says right now the best solution is simply patience.
“I wish I could tell you there’s an easy answer but I don’t think there is. I tell everyone I speak to: please be vigilant, keep your head on a swivel. It’s gotta be frustrating as hell to come down the street and be in 15 minutes of traffic then you get to where pedestrians are crossing- it’s just a bad recipe.”
While residents of Montreal West may be unhappy, it’s something they’ll have to live with for the next few weeks at least. Construction on the Angrignon overpass is expected to end on November 15.
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