The future McGill University teaching hospital at the Glen Yard site is facing a dead end of sorts.
While the new mega hospital is slated to open in less than two years, no pedestrian access route has been built to link the Vendome metro and train stations with the $2.3 Billion hospital.
“It’s totally ridiculous that $2 billion be spent on this and then somehow somebody forgot to add the access,” Marcel Côté, a Montreal Mayoral candidate, said.
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Railroad tracks used by AMT commuter trains separate the train and metro station from the future hospital.
There were plans to build two tunnels to accommodate the thousands of employees and patients who will be using the hospital on a daily basis. But those plans have been stalled and there is no indication a tunnel will be built in time for the hospital’s scheduled opening in 2015.
If nothing changes in the next two years pedestrians will have to walk along de Maisonneuve boulevard to Decarie Boulevard, under the overpass and finally make their way to the MUHC – a major detour compared to a straight line tunnel.
”It’s the worst politics I’ve seen since I’ve entered the race,” Côté said.
A spokesperson for the MUHC said a report on the future tunnel will be sent to Transport Quebec in the coming days.
But until all the public transit agencies and the provincial government are on board, the lengthy detour may be the only way for patients and personnel to access the future hospital from Vendome.
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