Residents push for safer measures on Saint-Jacques Street

Lachine residents were fuming after stop signs were removed on Saint-Jacques Street to help traffic flow due to construction on the Turcot Interchange. Transports Quebec has since put them back, but as Global’s Felicia Parrillo reports, residents worry that it is just a “temporary fix.”

If you’ve ever passed through Lachine, chances are you’ve probably been on St. Jacques St. Referred to as one of Lachine’s busiest roadways, St. Jacques St. isn’t exactly a walk in the park. Recently, it got a little harder for residents and merchants.

“They took away the stop signs on St. Jacques,” said Lachine borough councillor Maja Vodanovic.

“We had two stop signs to allow people to cross.”

According to the borough, when Transports Quebec closed the access to Highway 20 eastbound from St. Pierre Ave., they decided to make St. Jacques St. the detour.

“It essentially made the distance between the two closest traffic lights over 300 meters,” said David Marshall, executive director of Revitalisation Saint-Pierre, a community group in Lachine.

“[That] is quite problematic for families taking their kids to the daycare, to school or for seniors trying to get to the chapel on Sunday mornings.”

Residents and merchants decided to take matters into their own hands.

“We had a huge citizen uproar,” said Vodanovic.

“We had 40 people at a meeting and we said it was not our decision, it was something imposed on us.”

After weeks of lobbying, the stop signs were finally reinstalled last Saturday morning.