MONTREAL—Flashback to Feb. 2009: Politicians from all levels of government promised a new Dorval Interchange within four years at a cost of $224 million.
Four years later, the construction site around the Dorval circle has come nearly to a full stop. The project is nowhere near complete and costs have skyrocketed. A leaked report by Secor-KPMG, commissioned by Infrastructure Quebec, claims the project won’t be finished until 2019, at a cost of $507 million.
First announced in 2005, the project was pitched as relief to West Island commuters. The then-$150 million plan was to construct a direct link between Highway 20 and Montreal’s international airport.
However, a series of delays has all but scuttled the plan to finish the interchange any time soon. An unfinished overpass, meant to help ease congestion, has stood adjacent to the highway for two years. Locals have taken to calling it the “overpass to nowhere.”
“It's unbelievable, just unbelievable. I travel the circle every day and you don't see the construction proceeding. It's a mess really, a real mess,” said a local outside a nearby grocery store.
Transport Quebec attributed part of the delay to the complexity of the project and the number of partners. Along with the provincial government, Transport Canada, the cities of Dorval and Montreal, the STM, the AMT, CN and CP rail are involved. All decisions require consensus amongst the partners.
While the price tag for the project has continued to grow, Transport Quebec refuses to discuss the leaked communique first reporter in La Presse.
