L'Île-des-Soeurs residents in favour of a service bridge between island and mainland

Telephone interviews covered various subjects, one of which was the service bridge. The question asked of respondents: “In order to improve traffic conditions and to make the entry and exit points of L'Île-des-Sœurs more secure, would you agree or disagree to the construction of a bridge between L'Île-des-Sœurs and the mainland...to be reserved exclusively for public transportation, pedestrians, cyclists and emergency vehicles?” Of the 300 persons contacted in L'Île-des-Sœurs, 75% responded that they were in agreement with the project while 22% expressed otherwise. Only 3% of the respondents did not have an opinion (“Don’t know”).

For all of Verdun, the project was massively supported by residents – 74% were in favour. The highest number of people who agreed (77%) live in the Wellington-De-L’Église district while residents of the Desmarchais-Crawford showed 74% support. It should be noted that people aged 25 to 34 for Verdun were the ones who agreed most with the project (82%). This was followed by 81% of people in the $60,000 to $79,999 income category.

Survey results indicated that Verdun residents were much less in favour of the construction of a bridge for use by all types of vehicles. The highest percentage of support for such a project was actually in 'Île-des-Sœurs with 47% of respondents supporting it. In the Desmarchais-Crawford district, this support decreased o 43% while in the Wellington-De-L’Église district it was 37%. The survey also revealed that 49% of L'Île-des-Sœurs residents did not agree with the project while 4% respondents said, “don’t know.” In the whole borough, people aged 65 and older expressed support for the project, with a proportion of 53%.

In another part of the survey, it was observed was that 44% of L'Île-des-Sœurs residents would be ready to accept an increase in taxes to pay for the construction costs of the bridge. For Verdun Borough (including L'Île-des-Sœurs), people answered YES with a proportion de 39%. Another observation is that for people in the 25 to 34 age category, 51% of them would also be prepared to accept a tax increase to pay for the bridge.

Mayor Claude Trudel expressed his comments on this survey saying that he is witnessing a major change in the attitude of L'Île-des-Sœurs residents towards a new bridge. It will be interesting to know the conclusions of the Bridge Committee regarding this issue. Mayor Trudel confirmed that these will be announced at the end of the month and will advise local media.