Frustrated Pointe-Saint-Charles residents deal with construction that drags on for years

Grand Trunk Street in Montreal's Pointe-Saint-Charles neighbourhood is down to one lane and residents say construction to fix an old water main has been ongoing for years.

"They open it. They close it, open, close, open, close like five or six times, if I remember well," Valerie De Saint Rapt, who lives across the street, said.

The work has been ongoing for more than three years and for some, it’s reached a boiling point.

Stephanie Labelle took the issue to Montreal City Hall and questioned the mayor. She says she’s fed up with dust and noise outside her front door.

"This is unacceptable," Maja Vodanovic, in charge of waterworks with Montreal’s Executive Committee, said. "Four years. This construction site was supposed to end two years ago. It is two years late."

She says the contractor did not complete the work correctly and that’s caused long delays.

"It is the hardest construction site, the one we've had the most problems with at the city for the waterworks," Vodanovic said.

CTV News reached out to the contractor in charge of project, Duroking, who refused to comment.

De Saint Rapt worries about how this project impacts her building

"I manage the building and so I saw, like, some cracks and they were not there before," she said.

Residents say noise and dust are a constant problem, along with limited parking.

"They basically closed down the entire road with these [no parking] signs, but they don't actually come to work until they eventually want to and now it's just on a random day. They say, okay, today we're actually going to enforce these signs and remove everyone without any notice," Lucas Duquette, who lives across the street from the project, said.

An online petition has more than 200 signatures and residents want to be compensated.

The city says the work should start back up again next week and the project should be complete by the end of June.