Pointe-Claire seeks safe access to REM stations

The way they are now, cyclists can’t use them in a safe fashion. What we want is a T-intersection with traffic lights.

The city of Pointe-Claire wants safe access to the two planned light-rail train stations slated to be built in the municipality and that means safe access for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.

Last week, a brief was presented to Quebec’s environmental review board, known by its French acronym BAPE, outlining PointeClaire’s priorities as the Réseau électrique métropolitain (REM) project inches forward. The board will analyze all the briefs presented by individuals, groups and municipalities and presents its findings and recommendations to the government.

The 67-kilometre, 24-station light-rail system will connect the West Island with the airport, DeuxMontagnes, downtown and the South Shore. Seven of the stops will serve the core of the West Island with two stops in Pointe-Claire, at St-Jean and Sources boulevards where they intersect with Highway 40.

How those stations are integrated into Pointe-Claire’s long-term vision for the area was the focus of the BAPE brief.

“Both the overpasses (at St-Jean and Sources) will be refurbished by the Transport Ministry, but we don’t have a timeline yet,” PointeClaire Mayor Morris Trudeau said. “The way they are now, cyclists can’t use them in a safe fashion. What we want is a T-intersection with traffic lights.”

In 2011, Pointe-Claire adopted a planning program that mapped out the city’s vision of establishing a thriving central hub fuelled by commercial and residential growth. As it turns out, the two proposed REM stations — which will be called Pointe-Claire and Des Sources — would act as bookends for the exact area Pointe-Claire had pinpointed for growth.

At the same time as the planning program was adopted, the north side of Hymus Blvd. was zoned residential to pave the way for highrise developments.

And Trudeau said that land owned by Cadillac Fairview — on the west side of Fairview Ave. right up to the Kirkland border — will also become a residential development.

Both locations align with the Montreal Agglomeration Council’s land use and development plan that calls for residential densification in TODs — transit-oriented development zones.

In order to be designated as a TOD, the development must be within a one-kilometre radius of public transit.

“We are asking that the PointeClaire station be built on the east side, as close as possible to Fairview Plaza,” Trudeau said. “And we are getting excellent co-operation from CDPQ Infra.”

CDPQ Infra is the company managing the $5.5-billion light-rail project. The Caisse de dépôt announced the public/private initiative in April. It will commit $3 billion to the project. The rest of the funding will come from the provincial and federal governments and the Caisse has said construction will not begin without the financing in place.

The Pointe-Claire brief also underlined the importance of extending the local network of bicycle paths leading to the overpasses and improving STM bus service to the area.

Trudeau said the development of the Highway 40 corridor in PointeClaire should not diminish the importance of the AMT VaudreuilHudson train line which runs parallel to Highway 20 to the south.

Three stations — Valois, PointeClaire and Cedar Park — serve the densely-populated areas tracking to the east and west, above and below the highway.