Environmentalists awaiting Turcot Interchange pedestrian bridge

Politicians and environmentalists were celebrating the latest addition to the Dalle Park project Saturday afternoon, but they say a key piece of the development is still missing.

Politicians and environmentalists celebrated the latest addition to the Dalle Park project Saturday afternoon, inaugurating the bande verte multi-purpose trail, which runs parallel to the Saint-Jacques escarpment.

Activists say the bande verte is another piece of the Turcot Interchange nature park, but a huge piece of the puzzle is still missing.

“In order for the Falaise grand park to actually be a grand park, we need the bridge,” said Lisa Mintz, Sauvons La Falaise founder.

The Dalle Park pedestrian and cycling bridge would cross over highway 20, connecting the Sud-Ouest boroughs and NDG.

“This Dalle park project will connect four or five neighbourhoods immediately from a natural transit, it would be good for local economies and be good for inter-neighbourhood participation,” said City Councillor Craig Sauve.

The walkway was left out of the final plans for the Turcot interchange, but in 2018 the Quebec Liberal government announced the bridge would be built. Then a month later the CAQ government was elected.

“We’re ready to go. you know, we’ve already taken major steps to reserve some land at the top here. We bought the garage right beside the current entrance from st george, so we’re planning how to turn this into a park,” said NDG city councillor Peter McQueen.

Montreal city councillors say they are waiting on the provincial government. Although in a letter from June 1, Quebec’s transport minister Francois Bonnardel said “the next step is for the city of Montreal to complete the preliminary draft, which will make it possible to specify budgets and implement the schedule.”