A judge will be hearing arguments next week about stopping a part of the multi-billion-dollar construction on the Turcot Interchange.
The city of Westmount has filed an injunction arguing Transports Quebec (MTQ) changed the plans and that change puts its residents in danger.
The original plan 10 years ago was to build Highway 136 (formerly Highway 720) a few meters lower than it is now to reduce noise levels for those who live in the area.
But it wasn’t until 2015, that Westmount realized plans had changed without their knowledge and the highway would stay at the same level, keeping noise pollution high.
READ MORE: Avoid the Turcot Interchange until 2019, says Transports Quebec
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“Once we found out — because it wasn’t very obvious at first — once we found out, we were in shock,” Westmount’s director general Benoit Hurtubise told Global News.
The acceptable norm is around 50 decibels but noise levels in the area are up to 20 decibels higher, according to Hurtubise and residents we spoke to.
That equals to having a vacuum cleaner on all the time.
Westmount says they saw the reconstruction of the Turcot project as an opportunity to correct this situation but the MTQ isn’t caving.
“We did have some conversations with the MTQ and their reaction has been that we are going ahead, we’re building without any sound barriers on the westbound side and we’ll see after the project,” Hurtubise said.
READ MORE: Complaints of noise pollution over Turcot Interchange construction prompts change
Michael Mossup lives near the highway, and says he’s not only disappointed but believes the MTQ hasn’t been transparent enough when it came to communicating changes to residents.
“We had to fish out the information they didn’t come out front with us,” Mossup said.
“I feel like they really were hiding it from the residents.”
Global News reached out to the MTQ but they said they would not be commenting on the legal issue.
The MTQ and the city of Westmount will be meeting in front of a judge on Monday, Feb. 12.
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