JOSHUA ALLAN
The 1019 Report
A petition calling on Transport Quebec to construct a high-speed bypass route for Highway 20 in Vaudreuil-Dorion is approaching its Sept. 8 deadline after having amassed more than 15,000 signatures this summer.
As of Sept. 2, the petition had collected 15,191 signatures, said the Alliance of Citizens for a Real Highway 20, the group behind the initiative.
“We’re happy with the numbers because it shows that people are taking it seriously,” said Céline Pilon, one of the group’s organizers.
A total of 3,745 signatures were collected virtually on the National Assembly’s website, while 11,446 have so far been gathered on the paper version of the petition, which has been made available at a variety of locations across Vaudreuil-Soulanges.
Pilon predicts there will be as many as 2,000 more signatures added to the count as the group gradually collects the physical petitions this week.
The group launched the petition May 30, looking to resolve an issue residents of Vaudreuil-Dorion have been advocating for over the past 60 years.
The length of Highway 20 that runs through the old Dorion section of Vaudreuil-Dorion and across Île Perrot is the only stretch of a major highway in Canada that is controlled by traffic lights. It is used by an estimated 87,000 vehicles daily, as it directly connects Ontario’s 401 highway with the Island of Montreal. It has also seen increasing congestion as traffic is diverted from Highway 40 due to work on the Île aux Tourtes Bridge, including during periods when the bridge is closed completely.
The group is calling for the implementation of a bypass route to redirect traffic away from the suburban thoroughfare.
Starting at the Taschereau Bridge, which links Île Perrot to Vaudreuil-Dorion, the proposed bypass route would run alongside the railway tracks, linking to the existing highway about three kilometres westward, relieving Harwood of much of the bumper-to-bumper traffic it now regularly sees.
With support from Vaudreuil MNA Marie-Claude Nichols, the group plans to table the petition in the National Assembly on Thursday, Sept. 12. The assembly resumes its sitting after the summer break on Tuesday, Sept. 10.
The next step for the group will be to increase its profile through advertising and social media channels to continue to raise public awareness of the issue and applying pressure on the government to act, Pilon explained.
“We just want a commitment,” she said. “We’re done with promises.”
While the online petition is closed, the group is accepting signatures on the paper version of the petition until Sunday, Sept. 8. The petitions can be found at businesses along Harwood Blvd. in Vaudreuil-Dorion, as well as at IGA grocery stores across Vaudreuil-Soulanges.
As the group is gradually collecting the petitions this week, Pilon recommends that anyone looking to add their name to the list reach out to the administrators of the “Pour une vraie 20 à Dorion/Île Perrot” Facebook page.