Features Airports
Plans underway to reduce congestion at YUL Montréal-Trudeau Airport

Passenger traffic at YUL Montréal-Trudeau International Airport is reaching record levels lately, causing the airport’s infrastructure to face capacity challenges at certain times of the day.

Which is why teams at ADM Aéroports de Montréal have been working on measures that, once fully implemented, are designed to alleviate traffic on the main curbside in front of the terminal in the coming months.

The measures aim to redistribute car traffic on the airport site (alternative drop-off/pick-up zones); limit circular vehicle movements on the site (parking); and reduce the number of vehicles using access roads (public transport).

Feasibility studies carried out over the past few weeks have shown that the introduction of these measures will reduce the number of vehicles entering YUL’s main curbside by up to 700 per hour during peak periods, ADM Aéroports officials said in a news release, and the measures have been selected based on a list of clearly defined criteria including speed of implementation, operability and passenger experience.

Alternative drop-off zones

Two locations have been identified to the east and west of the site, in the new P4 parking lot, for the creation of remote drop-off zones. “Passengers will be able to choose between going to the main drop-off zone at the front of the terminal or travelling more quickly to a remote drop-off zone served by a five-minute shuttle service,” the release said. “These shuttles will follow a route that avoids congestion and the journey will take approximately 5 minutes.” These alternate drop-off zones served by shuttle buses will also be accessible to arriving passengers.

Parking

A review of YUL’s parking rates is underway for the upcoming summer season, and discounts will be offered for bookings of four hours or less in nearby parking lots and special rates will be introduced for parking lots that are further away. Free parking will also be available for a limited time in all parking lots. The multi-level parking lot (P4) will open at the beginning of the year, eventually adding 2,800 spaces to the current offer, and will be accessed via an alternative route to the main drop-off zone and multi-level parking garage.

Public transport

The Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM) and the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) have recently made what are being called “significant improvements” to the 747 bus service between the airport and the city centre. In addition to online ticketing, automated or manned mobile sales terminals have been installed in the terminal and daily bus departures have been added based on passenger demand.

In addition to working on short-term solutions, ADM is also improving access to YUL through the construction of new sustainable, multimodal facilities. Ultimately, by 2028, these measures will triple the capacity of the main curbside, provide more nearby parking, and reconfigure the road network to serve the new drop-off zones, ADM Aéroports officials said. “This is the permanent solution to congestion on the airport site,” they said. “Details of the work will be presented in spring 2024.” In addition, to meet the growing demand for air travel, ADM will accelerate the phasing of its work by 2028 to increase airside capacity by adding remote gates and increasing baggage handling capacity.