People in Montreal's southwestern neighbourhoods expressed serious doubts about the $1.5 billion overhaul of the Turcot interchange, the largest highway transit point in Quebec.
Hundreds of people turned out for the first phase of public consultations on Monday evening to hear officials lay out details of the massive seven-year project that will see the elevated expressway brought down to ground level beginning this fall.
The government will expropriate 100 homes to make way for the lower, wider highway.
That has caused concern among residents, some of whom turned out for a community barbeque on the eve of the hearings.
Critics, including environmentalist Daniel Breton, said the Turcot plan will increase traffic and hurt the environment. He and other critics want Quebec to shrink the interchange and invest more in public transit.
"All the documents concerning sustainable development say that we should lower the amount of cars on the road and put more emphasis on (public) transportation," Breton told CTV News.
Defending the plan
Transports-Quebec says the revamp is necessary because the 40-year-old interchange has outlived its usefulness.
The department says the new highway is necessary to make way for the more than 280,000 vehicles that pass to and from downtown as well as to the south shore and areas to the north.
The government also insists the project will allow for more green spaces as well as public transportation.
Organized opposition
Opposition to the Turcot plan seems to be coalescing, as many people brought outlines of their own transport plans to Monday's meeting.
Those ideas, whether expressed verbally or on paper, will be received at a second public session on June 15.
Until then, community members in St. Henri have set up a blog offering what they call a "neutral perspective" on the Turcot plan.
