Tramline in the Point proposed by students

By Marc Losier

Revitalizing venerable Point St. Charles was this year’s project for the students in Concordia’s Advanced Urban Laboratory.

Pierre Gauthier’s two-semester course combines the most recent approaches to urban planning with social, economic and historical analysis. His students learn how to plan future built environments by exploring their own back yard here in Montreal.

They did months of socio-economic research to back up their proposals to revitalize the area, and presented them on April 7 to an audience that included urban activists from the Société du Havre, the South West Borough and Réso Info-Logement.

Gauthier, the professor in the Department of Geography, Planning & Environment who teaches the lab, chose the Point because “its blue-collar neighborhoods were hit the hardest by the car-oriented planning practices of the ’50s and ’60s.

“Freight and passenger trains go around the clock here, and the entrance points of highways go right through backyards. This is unacceptable.”

The lab’s six student groups wrestled with how sustainable development could be encouraged and how the district’s historical integrity could be maintained.

In 1997, the federal government committed $100 million to revitalizing Point St. Charles. The investment permitted cleaning up the Lachine Canal, which was reopened to pleasure boating in 2002, and for the creating a park along its banks.

Since then, the area has seen an emergence of converted lofts from former industrial space — GE’s former headquarters is now occupied by multimedia companies — yet the community still has obstacles to overcome, such as environmental contamination, infrastructural neglect and inefficient public transit.

Point St. Charles suffers from crumbling infrastructure, lack of public services and very little commercial activity. Métro Charlevoix and infrequent buses are the only forms of public transportation in the area.

Trains

Drawing investment into the community is difficult because of inefficient public access. Moreover, CN and Via Rail run trains through the heart of the Point, and for years, residents have complained about the traffic.

Jason Blackman, Marc Heckmann, Kent MacDougall and Andrea Pearson propose a tramline using existing CN rail lines. It would reduce air and noise pollution, and remove the physical barrier dividing the community’s haves from its have-nots.

“The Point is isolated by the canal, industrial lots, the CN rail line, the Bonaventure Expressway, and the Décarie Expressway,” Heckmann said.

The team says a tramline would provide the Point with accessibility it has never had, giving it the fuel it needs for rejuvenation. Tramways would catalyze sustainable development in the surrounding areas, and connect the area to the métro system.

These students also believe a tramline is the key to averting gentrification that could spoil the historic district for its longtime residents.

There’s been a boom in condominium development along the edges of the canal. Some condos have sold for upwards of $1 million, and there are no signs of a slowdown. “If the trend continues, the middle to lower classes will be forced out of Point St. Charles by the emerging ‘condo wall of wealth,’ ” Heckmann said.

Gauthier thinks it’s an idea worth considering. “Assessing the feasibility of converting CN rail lines into tramlines remains to be the big question in this debate, but I feel momentum is building in Montreal towards the re-introduction of tramways.”