No one can argue that the construction of a new superhospital at the Glen Yards is a bad thing, but for those who live near the site the completion of the massive project cannot come soon enough.
Plumes of dust and constant noise are starting to drive some residents crazy, but it looks as though changes to address their concerns are on the way.
Norma Lovett manages 150 apartments on Decarie Blvd. between de Maisonneuve and Sherbrooke, and she is left shaking her head as truck after truck barrels down her street, kicking up clouds of dust every time.
"It's not fair for the tenants who live here," she told CTV Montreal's Tarah Schwartz. "They can't breathe, everything's dirty."
Some asthmatic residents find it hard to breathe because of the constant dust, which also finds itself lodged in the hair and clothing of those walking near the construction site.
Juliana Velez says you can't clean the dust off and she's now worried her 19-month old son is feeling the effects.
"He's coughing," she says. "At night he doesn't stop coughing."
The Notre Dame de Grace-Cote-des-Neiges borough acknowledges there is a problem, and is pinning that problem on SNC Lavalin.
The company handling the construction of the superhospital is also supposed to be in charge of the clean-up.
Charles Chebl, vice-president of SNC Lavalin, says efforts are being made to improve the dust situation.
"Now we started using the water trucks to clean the streets and sweepers, the mechanical sweepers are working right now," he says.
The change of season to spring is also an issue, Chebl says, because the thaw is generally a dirty time of year with leftover salt, gravel and sand still kicking around in the streets.
He says the next few weeks the situation should improve as the city undergoes its annual spring clean-up, but SNC Lavalin will also grant a request from residents to start hosing down the wheels of their trucks before they leave the site as of Monday.
That should help cut down on the dust being tracked into the streets, and hopefully be enough to put the minds of neighbouring residents at ease.