Île Bizard residents frustrated with traffic caused by bridge construction

Residents, business owners as well as the mayor of Île Bizard are frustrated with the delays crossing the only bridge that connects their community to the Island of Montreal.

During evening rush hour as traffic heads back into Île Bizard, two lanes merge into one as traffic comes off the Jacques-Bizard bridge while a new bridge is being built adjacent to it. 

“Times Square can be evacuated in 10 minutes. We just need residents to come home. With kids in the back seats, you know, a long day of hard work, you don’t need to be an hour just because nobody’s conducting traffic,” said Rosanna Chiaralla, an Île Bizard resident.

“We can’t bear it anymore. It just, you could literally sit there and gridlock for minutes, an hour and 14 minutes.” 

Former Montreal city councillor and Île Bizard resident Robert Samoszewski says that it has taken him 45 minutes to cross the bridge during rush hour when it should only take about a minute. 

“At the inauguration, I was here when Norman Marinacci, Eric Alan Caldwell, and Robert Beaudry had announced a new bridge and everything was going well. They said that the traffic would always remain fluid and be safe for the citizens because there were several citizens there concerned of what it would be and how long it would take. And it’s been terrible,” said Samoszewski.

The city of Montreal, in a written response to CityNews Montreal to address concerns about the traffic delays, says, “the bridge is the only access route to Île Bizard and all scenarios are examined to leave as many lanes of traffic open as possible. The number of lanes may change depending on the different phases of work. The work ending this week, and that of phase 2 scheduled to begin next week until the end of June, does not allow for the addition of a traffic lane.”

“As much as possible, if people can travel outside of peak hours, this would alleviate the volume of cars during peak hours,” added the city of Montreal.

The mayor of Île Bizard, Doug Hurley, says that the traffic has been poorly managed and is concerned a pedestrian might be injured if the city of Montreal doesn’t make changes.

He is also concerned about traffic delays that could even get worse when Île Bizard hosts the President’s Cup international golf tournament in September.

He says that he wants all construction to stop during this time to open all lanes when an additional 30 thousand people are expected to enter Île Bizard each day. 

“During that time period, we’re going through an exceptional circumstance. So I’m insisting that there is going to be no construction, open the roads up for that particular time period,” said Doug Hurley, the mayor of Île Bizard.

In a written response to the golf tournament concerns, the city of Montreal says that, “the President’s Cup is a major sporting event and, from the start of the new bridge construction project, the planning of the work took this into account. Special measures will be taken. Discussions are underway with the Ile-Bizard-Sainte-Geneviève district, municipal services including the SPVM and the event promoter so that these measures are sufficient and optimal.”

Some businesses in the area have also been impacted by the traffic delays caused by the bridge construction, which started in the Spring of 2022.

“With the construction, they block all the access to people to come here to us. They have to go all around the island to come here. And a lot of them, they don’t want to come,” said Ismail Tatari, the owner of Nettoyeur Daoust Île Bizard.

Ana Lucia Trujillo, the assistant manager of Animo etc. Île Bizard adds, “So in general, we’ve had a loss of like up to 50 per cent in the flow of customers. We’ve also really seen it in the numbers that we’ve had in the past couple of years. So it’s been a really big impact.” 

Construction of the new bridge is expected to be completed in the Spring of 2025.   

“The residents are not able to get onto this island quickly enough. It’s as simple as that,” said Chiaralla.