Montreal Quebec - Transport Quebec officials have attached a completion date of 2017 to the new work that will eventually link the now unfinished ramps and overpasses between Highway 20 and Dorval airport.
 
The two unfinished concrete structures that locals have dubbed "the ramps to nowhere" are now being redesigned and the project rebooted, said MTQ spokesperson Sarah Bensadoun on Tuesday.
 
"We are working on a plan, and then there will be a call for tenders," said Bensadoun.
 
"The completion date is 2017."
 
The modification comes after years of protracted negotiations between the MTQ and CP failed to produced an agreement that would allow pillars to be built on railway land to support the unfinished ramps in the existing plan.
 
However, Bensadoun said, the new design is not one of "suspension-type bridges" as Dorval Mayor Edgar Rouleau described last week to the Montreal Gazette after receiving an update from the MTQ.
 
The structures are still overpasses, she said, adding it's just that they are now being completed in a different way.
 
"With the new design there is no need for pillars," she said.
 
"That's the difference."
 
CP had been concerned "that freight traffic would be compromised," Bensadoun added.
 
Negotiations ongoing between the MTQ and CP for the overhead rights required for the new design are "going pretty well," Bensadoun said.
 
"We still need their authorization."
 
The so called "ramps to nowhere" are part of the MTQ's redesign of the Dorval Interchange's northern section, a $305-million project that is now 70 percent finished and includes work on Cardinal Avenue, Bouchard Boulevard, Michel Jasmin Avenue, and MacMillan Boulevard.
 
It is scheduled to be completed in two stages, in 2017 and by 2019 for the second phase.
 
Bensadoun said the MTQ's redesign of the Dorval Interchange's southern section, includes the reworking of Dorval Avenue, the railway overpass on Highway 520, new locations of terminals for STM buses, AMT commuter trains, and VIA Rail trains, as well as the Train de l'Ouest.
 
There are no timelines or cost estimates attached to this part of the Dorval Interchange project, she confirmed.
 
As a result of the provincial government's new infrastructure funding agreement that project now includes the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, in addition to the many other stakeholders previously involved.
 
Among them:  Transport Quebec, Transport Canada, Aeroports de Montreal (ADM), Agence metropolitaine de Transport (AMT), Societe de Transport de Montreal (STM), VIA Rail, the city of Montreal, the city of Dorval, CN, CP, and various telecommunications companies, including Rogers and Fido.

Cheryl Cornacchia.