Against Extending Kildare Road
September 27, 2006
I am against the extension of Kildare Road to Jean Talon Street for many reasons. First, there is the financial component. Who will pay for this? Second, I do not believe we need to create a highway which would go directly in front of a school (Bialik) which has more than 1,000 students. It is an accident waiting to happen. We asked our Public Works Department to look into the potential costs in 2006 dollars of carrying out this project. In 1986, when the City of Montreal was supposed to pay for this extension as part of a land deal with us, the cost of four different scenarios (two tunnels under a group of three tracks and a group of 12 tracks; one overpass over all tracks; one tunnel under all tracks; and a tunnel under three tracks and an overpass over 12 tracks) ranged from $18 to $36 million. In 1992, the costs went from $23 to $47 million. Now, the numbers have ballooned to $64 to $119 million. Côte Saint-Luc does not have this kind of money. We are presently working with the City of Montreal and the Province of Quebec on the funding process for the long awaited extension of Cavendish Boulevard. I do not believe the extension of Kildare Road merits any further discussion at the present time.