Archives15 years ago, inaugurated the extension of the Montreal metro to Laval

A long wait …

Laval residents have long hoped that the Montreal metro network will continue in their city.

During the 1981 municipal election, an opposition party, the CRAN (Citizens Rally for a New Action), requested that the city of Laval be connected to the Montreal metro network thanks to three additional station built on the island of Jesus, where the city of Laval is located.

In 1998, the government of Prime Minister Lucien Bouchard agreed to the idea of ​​an extension to the tune of $ 179 million.

In 2000, Quebec Transport Minister Guy Chevrette approved the final project for the extension of the metro to Laval.

Three new stations – Cartier, De la Concorde and Montmorency – will be built.

Their construction cost is estimated at 378.8 million dollars.

On May 14, 2005, journalist Karine Bastien joined for newspaper, led by Céline Galipeau, on a site visit attended by hundreds of Laval residents.

When asked by the journalist, some citizens noticed the progress of the work as well as the enormity of the site.

Since 2002, approximately 600 construction workers have been busy carrying out the project.

The project expanded the existing network by 5.2 km. To visit the site, you need to go 37 meters underground.

At that time, the work was 66% complete, according to the project manager for the Metropolitan Transport Agency.

That means the noisiest work is done.

The completion of this stage relieves some citizens who have to undergo the many explosions necessary for the realization of the project.

… Will end April 26, 2007

Cartier, De la Concorde and Montmorency stations were inaugurated with great excitement on April 26, 2007.

As highlighted in a report by journalist Jacques Bissonnet on Newscast on that day, several prominent personalities were present at the official ceremony celebrating the event.

This is the case of Quebec Premier Jean Charest.

In his speech, he paid tribute to his predecessor, Lucien Bouchard, for deciding to unite the cities of Montreal and Laval through the metro network.

For his part, Montreal mayor Gérald Tremblay praises the result he sees as a continuation of the vision of his predecessor, Jean Drapeau, developed 40 years ago.

The realization of the project makes people happy, even though it costs 745 million dollars.

This is four times more expensive than the first assessment made in 1998.

A very popular extension

A year after its inauguration, the metro in Laval is already busy.

This is the observation made by journalist Louis-Philippe Ouimet in a report he presented to Newscast of April 25, 2008.

We are planning 34,000 daily trips, the journalist informs us.

However, a year after its opening, there were more than 60,000.

This is almost double what was expected.

Laval residents noticed the ease of using the network to reach Montreal and use it.

This enthusiasm makes it possible that one day there will be 100,000 daily trips from Laval.

But there is an upside to this coin.

Entering the service of three Laval stations means that the entire system is overloaded.

The number of complaints for congestion in wagons has tripled in less than a year.

We increased the frequency of trains by 17% to try to solve the problem.

But clearly the wagons often overflow.

The addition of new trains to the metro is being considered by the Société des transports de Montréal, but the difficulty is there is a shortage of vehicles on the market.

Laval residents also complain that there is a lack of parking near metro stations.

Despite these shortcomings, the mayor of Laval, Gilles Vaillancourt, dreams that the metro network will be further expanded in his city.

In particular, he is promoting an ambitious project that will connect the orange line between Montmorency and Côte-Vertu stations.

This project is still not seeing the light of day.

Instead, east Montreal is currently witnessing the development of the blue line with the announced construction of five new stations.