Court says Autoroute 25 work can continue

The environmentalists who petitioned Superior Court to temporarily stop work on Autoroute 25 were rebuffed this past week. But the issue of the June court proceedings are not affected by the decision, says the judge.

The request for a temporary injunction, deposited on March 11 by the Regional Environment Council of Montreal (CRE), Équiterre, and Greenpeace, envisaged a suspension of the preparatory work launched February 20, on the edge and bank of the Rivière des Prairies.

This waork represented the first phase of the construction of the new bridge, linked to the extension of Autoroute 25.

Superior Court Judge Robert Mongeon ruled that the work, which is well under way, poses no threat to the environment. Considering the current state-of-affairs, he explained that it was even preferable to let the work proceed.

As stipulated in the 2005 government decree which gave the green light to the highway project, the work will have to be stopped on April 1, to resume only on August 1. This measure is in place for the protection of the yellow sturgeon of the river, a threatened species whose spawning period is April 1 – August 1.

The work in progress includes a partition for the protection of the sturgeon's spawning through against rock slides from the newly-built pier.

Judge Mongeon ruled that "the work underway is not of a nature to (…) invalidate the June 2 proceedings, and, even less likely to affect the court's decision (in June).

This declaration provoked CRE Montreal director André Porlier to state that the "die is not yet cast."