Pie-IX Boulevard is one of the most important public transit corridors in the Montreal region, carrying more than 42,500 passengers a day. Currently, this corridor is served by a full-time local bus service and a peak-hour / peak-direction express bus service. Previously, this service ran counter-flow along the Boulevard until two fatal accidents led to its closure.
The AMT mandated WSP to undertake a pre-feasibility that recommended the development of a central median BRT. This $305 million project will be the first of its kind in Quebec and one of the first in Canada. In development since 2003, the project involves multiple multimodal hubs, including two subway connections and one commuter rail transfer point.
A Step by Step Approach
Following the pre-feasibility, a second mandate was awarded to WSP to proceed with a detailed feasibility study and preliminary engineering of the BRT.
The feasibility study involved optimizing the concept developed in the pre-feasibility study. We then examined new variants of the central median BRT concept to determine the ideal arrangement for the new BRT. We analyzed the major traffic and transportation impacts with the implementation of this project. We assessed the advantages of the new BRT for transit providers and their users.
Our focus was the safety of the new BRT and its redesigned boulevard, as well as the integration to the surrounding urban environment. The study finally included how to extend the BRT north to Laval and southwest to the downtown core of Montreal.
We have since undertaken preliminary designs along with detailed cost estimates. This includes examining in detail the environmental, transit and traffic impacts of the project for surrounding roadways and neighbourhoods. The detailed design is for a 10 km median arterial BRT, 2 km of freeway shoulder BRT and a 1.5 km dedicated bus way. We developed an operation plan for the BRT. Since many urban areas where the BRT passes through are highly sensitive, the design was adjusted to each context in order to minimize overall impacts. During preliminary design, impacts on adjacent properties and trees were dealt with extreme precision, even exceeding the usual level of detail for preliminary designs.
The project also included an examination of different technologies for electrifying the corridor, including the use of trolley buses and emergent technologies, such as super capacitors. Our team delivered the following:
- Transit Planning
- Public Consultation
- Operation Strategy
- Technical Guidelines
- ITS Systems
- Preliminary Design
- Major Investment Study
- VISSIM, Corsim, Synchro and EMME modeling
- Interagency Coordination
- Station Design
- Stakeholder outreach and consultation
