Pavement pains produce pothole panic

BY RAFFY BOUDJIKANIAN

raffy.boudjikanian@transcontinental.ca

Scenic Chemin l'Anse à l'Orme at the western tip of the island cuts through three West Island municipalities and a borough, weaving its gorgeous, made-for-biking shape around some small woods, but its divided jurisdiction is leaving some irate residents of the area up in arms.

"This road is full of cracks, bumps, craters and potholes that make the streets of downtown Baghdad, look like les Champs Elysee by comparison," said Senneville Road resident Pierre Matuszewski.

Covered in bumps and potholes, the street crosses Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Kirkland, Senneville and the Pierrefonds/Roxboro borough.

Some citizens suspected it is because of this four-way divide that the different municipal authorities have not bothered to fix the street. However, Ste. Anne Mayor Bill Tierney said his council adopted a resolution last week to spend about $300,000 to repair their section of the street this spring.

"It's very difficult to justify spending that money," Tierney said, since Ste. Anne residents do not use l'Anse à l'Orme regularly. However, he admitted that it is popular as a bike path.

Over in Pierrefonds/Roxboro, the borough mayor's assistant Yolande Paquette said their section of l'Anse à l'Orme is not in as dire a situation as those in other municipalities, since Pierrefonds renovated their section in 1989.

"However, I have told our public works team to go see if our area of l'Anse à l'Orme has any potholes, and to take care of them if it does," she told The Chronicle.

Diane Bateman, a Kirkland resident who was out biking with a friend near the area last Friday afternoon, said it was her first time on l'Anse à l'Orme, but she found it to be in really bad shape. "It's a nightmare," she said, questioning why concerned municipalities could not simply split the costs of the street's reparation.

"I haven't been able to go up l'Anse à L'Orme for years," said Colin Mitchell, a Pierrefonds resident who rode past the contentious street by Gouin but did not turn on it last Friday.

For some, the situation is so bad that it has affected their social lives. Cynthia Decoteau, who lives on an adjacent street, found a small get-together at her home practically unattended last week after several friends simply could not show up due to the bad state of l'Anse à l'Orme. Being near the Rivière des Prairies, the street was slightly flooded at the time after some heavy rainfall.

"We have a PT Cruiser," said Decoteau, and that was the only reason they were able to cross the street during those days. Smaller sports cars simply did not have a chance.

"This is the worst it's ever been," she added of the state of the road this year. "It's never been this bad."

Kirkland and Senneville town hall employees said their municipalities were planning to repair their road sections as well, but nobody willing to go on the record returned phone calls for comment as of press time.