TMR’s upcoming megamall project is going to be a bit more mega.
During public hearings held on Tuesday night, developer Carbonleo said that in addition to the shopping mall, six office towers and amusement and water parks that were already announced, the project will also include as many as 6,000 housing units.
A study released earlier this month found that the $2 billion project, which will be located at the intersection where the Decarie Expressway meets the Metropolitain, found that traffic could become a major issue in the area.
The report showed there would be 140,000 additional daily trips to the area once construction is finished, with half of those trips being in vehicles and half in public transit. With the area already heavily congested, the addition of 70,000 daily car trips could add 20 to 30 minutes in rush hour for cars passing through Highway 40.
According to Carbonleo, the impact the project will have will be less significant, estimating it will add only two to five minutes to rush hour commutes.
The announcement of the housing units means those numbers will have to recalculated.
“The traffic studies will have to be actualized with the new distribution, but there’s a need for those studies to always be up to date,” said Montreal City Councillor in charge of urban planning Eric Alan Caldwell.
There are two more public hearings scheduled for December and January, after which a committee will make its recommendations. Following that, Montreal City Council will vote on whether to give the complex a final approval.
