Three new speed bumps are being installed on St-Dominique Street in the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough.
On Tuesday, crews began the preliminary work of cutting sections of the residential street.
The construction comes after residents petitioned for more than two years for speed mitigation measures on the street.
“It’s great that it finally happened. We wish it happened a little earlier,” St-Dominique resident Michael Wagner said.
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St-Dominique is used as a shortcut when St-Laurent Boulevard — an artery that runs north-south through the city — becomes choked with traffic, according to residents.
Residents were promised the speed bumps would be installed by the summer but officials with the borough told Global News they had to postpone the installation due to unforeseen complications.
Alex Norris, the interim mayor for Plateau-Mont-Royal, says the delay was because a city project to replace underground lead pipes was cancelled. Norris said the speed bumps were only going to be installed once the work was finished and the street was repaved.
“We didn’t want to do the same job twice given the delay in the resurfacing contract. We thought it was imperative to get these installed,” Norris said.
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While residents of St-Dominique Street are glad to see the speed bumps put in place, they are discouraged at how hard it was to get the borough to take action.
More than 170 people on the street signed a petition for the speed bumps but Wagner claims it fell on deaf ears.
“We had a petition almost everybody on the block signed it, but that didn’t seem to be enough,” Wagner said.
Wagner said the borough only acted after Global News reported on the issue.
Norris disputes that, stating the borough council took the petition very seriously and incorporated it into the cancelled city repaving project.
“We put in a request immediately to get those speed bumps put in place,” Norris said.
Delays aside, resident Nancy Guerin is glad the project is finally getting done.
“At the end of the day, they did it, and that is what matters for the safety of our street,” Guerin said.
The borough hopes to have the speed bumps completely installed in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, residents say they will relish their victory.
“I think we will have to crack open a bottle of champagne to celebrate,” Guerin said.