The people behind the massive Royalmount megamall project are taking issue with the City of Montreal's assessment of traffic problems that the project may end up causing.
On Tuesday, the city released a report suggesting there would be 140,000 additional trips daily to the area — right where the Decarie Expressway meets the Met — once the 2.5 million square foot shopping-and-entertainment development is completed by 2022. And half of those new trips would be in vehicles, with the other half in public transit.
About 360,000 vehicles pass through the Decarie interchange every day, and adding more would make traffic in the area far worse than it already is, adding anywhere from 15 minutes to a half an hour to your daily commute.
In a statement released late Tuesday, officials with Carbonleo — the same company behind the Dix30 complex in Brossard — suggest the traffic mitigation measures it plans on putting in place will result in barely two or three minutes added to that commute, if that.
Among other things, the developer points to the addition of housing in the project, which would cut the number of car trips in the area. It also points to the fact it's proposing a pedestrian walkway to be built over the Decarie Expressway to link the megamall to the De La Savane metro station.
It also suggests the city hasn't taken into account the refurbishment of the Turcot interchange — which is due to be complete by the time Royalmount is up and running — or the brand-new REM light-rail project, which will also be operational right around that time along tracks which cut through the heart of Town of Mount Royal.
Carbonleo says it remains open to discussions with the city on further traffic mitigation measures.
A round of public consultations on the project will be held on Nov. 27 at 7 p.m. at City Hall. As things stand now, construction is expected to begin next spring.