Achi news desk-
Grand Trunk Street in Montreal’s Pointe-Saint-Charles neighborhood has been reduced to one lane and residents say construction to repair an old water main has been going on for years.
“They open it. They close it, open, close, open, close like five or six times, if I remember correctly,” said Valerie de Saint Raft, who lives across the street.
The work has been going on for more than three years and during some of them it has reached a boiling point.
Stephanie Leibel took the issue to the City of Montreal and questioned the mayor. She says she is tired of fighting and noise outside her front door.
“This is unacceptable,” said Maja Vodanovic, who is in charge of water works at the Montreal Executive Committee. “Four years. This construction site was supposed to be finished two years ago. It’s two years late.”
According to her, the contractor did not complete the work correctly and this caused many delays.
“This is the most difficult construction site, the one we’ve had the most problems with in the city for the waterworks,” Vodanovich said.
CTV News reached out to the contractor responsible for the project, Duroking, who declined to comment.
De Saint Raft is concerned about how this project affects her building
“I manage the building and so I saw, like, some cracks and they weren’t there before,” she said.
Residents say noise and dust are a constant problem, along with limited parking.
“They basically closed the whole road with these [no parking] Signs, but they don’t come to work until they eventually want to and now it’s just on a random day. They’re saying, OK, today we’re actually going to enforce these signs and take them all down without any notice,” said Lucas Duquette, who lives across the street from the project.
An online petition has more than 200 signatures and residents want compensation.
The city says work should start again next week and the project should be completed by the end of June.
