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Vaudreuil-Dorion mayor worried about heavy traffic around new hospital site

FILE - A photo of what the proposed hospital may look like. The Citizens' Committee for a Hospital in Vaudreuil-Soulanges

Vaudreuil-Dorion’s Mayor Guy Pilon is worried about the influx of traffic in the area around the site where the new hospital will be built and says it’s time to act.

Land for the Vaudreuil-Soulanges hospital site is located near the junction of Highway 30 and Cité-des-Jeunes Blvd. in Vaudreuil-Dorion.

Traffic-wise, the area is already bursting at the seams, with drivers complaining that during rush-hour, there’s wall-to-wall traffic.

Every day, thousands of cars coming from Highways 30, 20 and 40 merge at the two intersections near the area.

Both are one-lane only, creating traffic chaos.

Pilon says there should be at least two lanes to help ease the congestion.

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Now that plans to build it are in full swing, Pilon believes it’s become urgent to do something to improve traffic flow.

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READ MORE: Vaudreuil-Soulanges hospital should open by 2022

“If you do nothing now, the hospital will be blocked completely,” Pilon said.

Pilon calculates that once the hospital is up and running, about 3,000 more cars will be added to the mix.

Improving traffic in the area, he says, could be a matter of life and death.

“Imagine if everything is blocked, even if you come by ambulance, it’s nonsense,” Pilon said.

The mayor also says it’s high time Highway 20 is completed, replacing the existing urban boulevard in Dorion.

The land has been vacant for almost 40 years but building the highway, Pilon says, hasn’t been a priority.

“It’s the only place in Canada where the [highway] 20 is still in an urban zone, the only place.”

Global News reached out to Quebec’s Transport Minister André Fortin but didn’t hear back by deadline.

Pilon says he has high hopes that after dealing with four different transport ministers in the past few years, Fortin will be the one to finally do something about the issue.

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