A recent report published by a committee studying the Royalmount development has recommended the extension of Cavendish Boulevard as well as the construction of a dedicated bus lane.
An extension to Cavendish Boulevard that would connect Côte Saint-Luc to the Montreal borough of Saint-Laurent has been discussed for more than 50 years. Côte Saint-Luc residents are divided over the idea, which some point out may never happen.
“It’s just a lot of talk,” Phyllis Orloff, a woman who lives along Cavendish Boulevard, said on Wednesday. “It’s never really happened.”
Others, however, point out that the road would be a welcome artery through a city with few ways in and out. Others worry about the influx of traffic an extension might bring.
Officials have studied the extension formally on half a dozen occasions — in 1981, 1988, 1992, 1995, 1996 and 2000 — but it has never materialized.
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Two freight railways — Canadian Pacific and Canadian National — own tracks that the extension would have to cross, and for a long time, neighbouring jurisdictions weren’t on board, according to Côte Saint-Luc Mayor Mitchell Brownstein.
With the massive Royalmount project on the horizon, other jurisdictions are calling for the extension.
“They’re doing it not because of Côte Saint-Luc, they’re doing it because the cars need to go somewhere, and they can’t use Decarie (Boulevard),” Brownstein said.
Negotiations with the railroads are slated to continue for another year and a half. Brownstein said the road could be finished by 2027.
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