HOME | ARTICLE ARCHIVES | ENTERTAINMENT | JOBS | CLASSIFIEDS | NEWSPAPER ARCHIVES | YOUR OPINION | ABOUT TLN | Email Us
New Metro stops are promised for Laval residents, after an "irreversible" agreement between local and provincial governments to expand the Orange Line, connecting Montmorency and Cote Vertu stations. The joint agreement between Laval, Montreal, Longueuil, and the province also lays out plans to extend the blue and yellow lines.
Transport Minister Julie Boulet estimates the additional 20 kilometres on the network - which she called essential - will take ten years to complete.
The proposed route extends northwest from Station Montmorency, turning southward before Highway 440, through Chomeday, between Autoroutes 13 and 15. Before reaching Cote Vertu, stops are proposed at Bois-Franc and Poirier. Precise station locations and frequency will be will determined during a three-year feasibility study run by representatives from the Ministry of Transport, AMT, and from each particpating city, at an estimated cost of $12 million.
"So many Laval citizens use the Metro daily," said Mayor Gilles Vaillancourt. "It has given us the credibility to obtain what we're obtaining today." Vaillancourt acknowledged that extending the Metro in Laval has been a major preoccupation for him, and said this development will improve Laval's traffic circulation and lower pollution.
"Forty percent of gas in Quebec comes from transporation," said premier Jean Charest, adding that improved public transporation is an investment in a better environment. "We're living in an environmental crisis at the same time as a financial crisis," the premier said. The project would create thousands of jobs and other economic stimuli, he said.
Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay also called the project an "engine for economic recovery."
The plans include extending the blue line eastward to Anjou, and extending the yellow line southward to the intersection of Boulevard Rolland-Therrien and de la Savane. Boulet said construction could begin before the end of the three year study, likely starting with the Blue Line extension. Total costs for the project are roughly estimated to be higher than $4 billion.
The three existing stations in Laval were opened to the public in April 2007. In 2008, the STM reports, there were more than 7,000,000 rides taken from Metro stops within Laval.
Boulet said that there is now an average of 60,000 trips per day taken from the Laval stations.
