General goals
- Make the airport surroundings the prestigious
international gateway to Montréal
- Intensify employment activities in the area
- Improve the overall accessibility of the area
Planning issues
Montréal – Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport is the main gateway to the City from the rest of the world. However, the surrounding area is destructured in many ways: poorly organized roads, a proliferation of huge parking lots, undesirable uses and buildings of poor architectural quality. This area should be transformed to become a prestigious gateway to Montréal.
The expansion and reorganization of airport operations will play a strategic role in revitalizing the area’s employment structure by attracting businesses associated with the aeronautical industry and related services. The airport has already initiated the wave of changes described in its Development Plan, beginning with the expansion and reorganization of the passenger terminals.
Areas designated for redevelopment are located on either side of Chemin de la Côte-de-Liesse (Autoroute 520). The largest of these is bounded by Autoroutes 20 and 520 and Avenue Orly. The availability of these large spaces and the proximity of major road and rail infrastructure constitute valuable assets. The area surrounding Chemin de la Côte-de-Liesse will also be subject to detailed planning (see Section 4.9).
Development of the area requires taking traffic and accessibility into consideration. The saturated road network, the high number of accidents, problems of spatial orientation and poor public transportation connections between the airport and Montréal’s Centre constitute a complex set of problems that call for integrated solutions. The Ministère des Transports du Québec (MTQ), in collaboration with the Ville de Montréal, is studying a redesign of the Dorval interchange, including the traffic circle.
Because of its architectural quality and heritage value, the airport terminal building warrants special attention in terms of protection and improvement.
