Nicolas Koronkiewicz and Fabien Wong: A Shock Duo on the Pie-IX BRT Project

The Pie-IX Boulevard Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is a flagship and efficient public transit project integrated into the reconstruction and redevelopment of Pie-IX Boulevard. The section between Saint-Martin Boulevard in Laval and Pierre-De Coubertin Avenue in Montreal was started in 2018 and put into service on November 7, 2022, except the Jean-Talon sector that was commissioned in December 2023. Work on the extension to Notre-Dame East began in the fall of 2023 and will continue until 2027. The project requires multiple obstructions and closures of streets and intersections, constituting undeniable challenges for traffic maintenance, access, and neighbourhood activities.

Members of the project team since 2019 and 2020 respectively, Nicolas Koronkiewicz and Fabien Wong combine their expertise in communications and impact and traffic management to ensure smooth and safe progress of the work while mitigating irritants for the population.

"This is a large-scale project, and the current batch involves several major institutions: two elementary schools directly on the boulevard, a CHSLD, intermediate resources, but also several businesses and community organizations impacted. The main part of my role is to communicate the project, with the help of Intervia's communications officers, but also to be the bridge between affected citizens, the contractor, the STM, and the other stakeholders on the site," explains Nicolas, liaison officer for the project.

Fabien, for his part, as a traffic maintenance and impact management engineer, obviously plays a central role in the various stages of the project in order to anticipate all possibilities and propose solutions that will be put in place to maintain traffic in the area as much as possible, despite the necessary obstacles. He believes that the strength of Intervia's expertise for such a mandate lies in the cohesion that exists between liaison officers and engineers to serve mobility and safety for all users.

“I arrived at Intervia three years ago and one of my first assignments was on one of the previous lots of the Pie-IX BRT where I even had the opportunity to partially play the role of liaison officer. It was a very telling experience to understand the needs of local residents in the face of obstructions of such magnitude and to realize the importance of including them in project communications as well as in the design. Not only did my involvement in the previous lots make me grow professionally, but it also allowed me to master the project in detail, which prepared me for any eventuality. This experience is priceless,” he says.

Nicolas adds that the project involves a complete reconstruction of the roadside infrastructure on the boulevard, including several updates to the water and sewer network, in addition to improvements to the pedestrian infrastructure. He always tries to be as transparent as possible in his interactions with local residents about the impacts of the project, but also about its future benefits: "We explain to local residents the impacts of an obstruction or a water interruption, for example, while assuring them that we will do everything necessary to minimize the inconvenience on their daily lives and explaining why such an interruption is necessary. It then becomes much easier to accept, especially considering the advantages of the infrastructure under construction.”

“For my part, if I have to keep just one thing in mind," says Fabien, "it's safety. In such a dense neighbourhood, when managing traffic around a construction site of this scale, safety must be prioritized. Then, thanks to good collaboration with the partners of the borough, the STM, and other services, we can minimize disruptions to residents' travel habits.”

A project of the magnitude of the Pie IX BRT undoubtedly upsets the daily life of this important artery of the city, but Nicolas and Fabien devote their daily lives to minimizing the impact of the work. While citizens of the east end of the city can already benefit from this new flagship public transit link that crosses the island from North to South, the section currently under construction will eventually add 1.6 km of reserved lanes by 2027. It is therefore a route of more than 13 km that will benefit users of the bus rapid transit system and ultimately all residents thanks to the complete restoration of municipal infrastructure on the artery. Until then, count on the Intervia power duo to continue the essential work of impact management and community relations!