Beaudry Metro station to close for 8 months starting this fall

Montrealers may have to change their daily commutes starting this fall, since a Green line Metro station will be closed for nearly eight months, Radio-Canada has learned.

Montreal's public transit agency (STM) is planning a complete facelift for Beaudry station in the Gay Village, which opened in December 1966.

It will be closed between the fall of 2018 and spring of 2019. The specific dates of closure will be announced in the next few weeks.

In order to give the station a fresh look, the walls and floors will be revamped, as will its long moving sidewalks.

Nearly 18 months of work are planned in total and a call for tenders was put out at the end of April. The renovation budget has not been specified.

Electrical, lighting and signage work will also be undertaken.

To appease those who will be inconvenienced by the closure, the STM will provide shuttle buses for Metro users between the neighbouring stations, Berri-UQAM and Papineau.

Skipping tourist season

Since the station has only one entrance, on Ste-Catherine Street East near Beaudry Street, a complete closure was necessary, according to STM spokesperson Amélie Régis.

"If we had decided to keep this station open, the work would have lasted three years," she said.

The closure was initially planned for summer, but the STM has revised its plans so as not to affect tourist season.

"Usually, we prefer to close a station for renovations during the summer because it's the period with the least traffic," Régis said.

But since that section of Ste-Catherine turns into a pedestrian zone during the summer — this year until Sept. 28 — she said the STM did not want to harm the tourist period.

It's quite rare for a Metro station to close completely — the last full closure was at Beaubien in 2015. The Orange line station was closed for four months for major repairs.

In 2016, Beaudry recorded 1.3 million admissions. It's the 63rd busiest station out of 68.

Berri-UQAM and McGill are the Metro stations with the most recorded users. Last year, 12.1 and 11.3 million customers passed through the doors of those stations respectively. Guy-Concordia was third with 9 million admissions.