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Courrier Laval Bilingual Edition

Is it only the beginning?

par Geneviève Fortin
Voir tous les articles de Geneviève Fortin
Article mis en ligne le 29 avril 2007 à 14:00
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In an effort to reduce automobile traffic, and diminish air and noise pollution, Paris installed a tramway line along a beltway to the south of the city. Tramway T3 has moved more than 5 million passengers since it first started rolling in mid-December of 2006. (Photo: Courtesy of the Paris City Council)

With the final decorative touches on the three Laval metro stations barely completed, Laval mayor Gilles Vaillancourt was already dreaming of more extensions, and he's not alone. Others are also caught up in big dreams, this time about tramways.

To mayor Vaillancourt, it is crystal clear that the extension of the Orange Line into Laval soil will not stop at the three new stations. "One day, the metro will extend to Carrefour Laval and veer through Chomedey to link up with Côte-Vertu, as it was projected in the plan put forth in 1978," Mr.Vaillancourt maintains, affirming that it's just a matter of time.

Questioned during the election campaign on the possibility of this future extension of the Laval metro, Jean Charest broke into laughter and answered: "We'll start by opening the three new stations!"

But the Metropolitan Transit Agency (AMT) did consider the eventuality of future extensions when the project was originally conceived. "It'll come to pass," believes Jean-Pierre Normand, director of the Laval Metro Project. "It's a great start. Now, we can dream of further expansion."

Better than trains

Although he's been often approached with suggestions for railway projects, mayor Vaillancourt remains convinced the metro is the only acceptable solution for the region. "If Laval was a typical suburb without an economic base of its own, the (commuter) train would be a viable solution," he states, noting that the metro is much more than that, responding to different needs.

"The urban milieu is in full growth. A real city is in the process of emerging in the central core. We were missing the link with the city-centre. The train does not get there in five minutes, like the metro can," he explains, adding that trains are scheduled to run every half-hour and only at peak morning and afternoon rush hours.

Dreaming of the tramway

Above and beyond the metro, one can even dream of what might be, say, in 15 to 20 years, a Ville de Laval completely sold on public transit. At least that's what Guy Garand, director of the Regional Environment Council (CRE) of Laval, would like to see.

"Why not a tramway along Saint-Martin?" This artery has the width that no Montreal counterpart can compare with," he pleads. "There's a lot of deep thinking to be done with respect to public transit. On what will hang the balance? On concrete, asphalt and clay?"

Guy Garand is not alone in his dream of a tramway for the east-west Saint-Martin axis. Jean Léveillé of Transport 2000 also shares this vision of Laval, granted that a project of this magnitude does not come into being simply by yelling 'Eureka! We have done it!'

"We've been talking about a tramway project that would link Park Avenue to Réne Lévesque Boulevard and eventually to Old Montreal for the past 15 years. In Laval? Maybe in 2025, provided we don't build the Highway 25 bridge. We can't have our cake and eat it too! Nor by assuming that the people of Laval and elsewhere will buy into the importance of public transit."

"It's a great start. Now we can dream of further expansion."

Jean-Pierre Normand, director of the Laval Metro Project.

(Photo: Courtesy of the Paris City Council)

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