TRAM TRACKER: Demolition set for two former gas stations on tramway route
Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
peterblack@qctonline.com
Two former gas stations the city acquired to make way for the tramway project are slated for demolition in the coming days.
According to several media reports citing city hall sources, the former Petro-Canada station on Boul. René-Lévesque and Ave. Belvédère, and the former Ultramar on Boul. Laurier near Route de l’Église, will be levelled and the sites temporarily landscaped in anticipation of the construction of the tramway line.
According to the tramway plan, the Boul. Laurier site will accommodate track for the future Sainte-Foy interchange hub. The Boul. René-Lévesque site will be transformed into a surface station for a tramway stop, with the surrounding grounds becoming park space.
A third former (Shell) gas station acquired for the tramway, on Boul. René-Lévesque at Ave. Cartier, was demolished last year and the site decontaminated and cleared by the former owner as the condition of the property’s sale to the city for $2.4 million.
Other properties to be demolished in the coming weeks include two houses on Rue Landry, near Route de l’Église. The property is to become a green space on the surface, with underground parking to be built to compensate for spaces lost due to the tramway lines.
The restart of tramway construction comes after a delay the Quebec government imposed in the fall in the wake of the escalating price of the project due to delays and rising construction costs.
The government mandated the Caisse de Depôt et Placement du Québec (CDPQ) infrastructure division to study public transportation needs for the greater Quebec City-Lévis region and submit recommendations.
In June, the Caisse delivered a report, recommending, among other things, the essentials of the existing tramway plan, but with a change in the eastern route, from Beauport to Charlesbourg. The new master plan is called CITÉ, for Circuit intégré de transport express.
Since then, players in the project – the city, the provincial government and the CDPQ Infra – have regrouped under the leadership of the Caisse to kickstart work on the multi- year scheme.
One of the largest and most disruptive elements of the tramway plan, the preparation of the Boul. Laurier corridor, is expected to proceed full blast in August of next year. It will involve the reconfiguration of the major artery from the entrance to Université Laval to Route de l’Église where the tramway line heads north and west towards Cap-Rouge.
The work will add further complications to traffic in the area already disrupted by a massive project to improve ac- cess to the Pierre Laporte and Quebec bridges.
The city has issued a call for tenders for the Boul. Laurier tramway route, which includes relocating all the underground networks so that they do not cross tramway lines. That component of the project is budgeted at $70 million.