T.M.R. businesses say they're taking financial hit as Hydro-Québec project limits access

Montreal Gazette

7 days ago

By
Amit Bachar has already lost about $50,000 in revenue for the month of May after construction took over the area where his car wash is located in the Town of Mount Royal.
The owner of Details Car Wash said his income has been slashed by nearly half since a Hydro‑Québec project began this spring. The detours and heavy traffic have made it much harder for customers to access his services located on busy Jean-Talon St. and accessible by Lucerne Rd.
'It makes me very sad, very stressed, and it's affecting my life financially and mentally,' Bachar said in an interview Friday afternoon with The Gazette. 'And I feel like they just don't care about us. And it's not fair.'
Details Car Wash has been around for nearly 50 years, and Bachar has been running it for 18 years. He said he employs about 20 people, but with fewer cars coming in because of ongoing road closures and detours, he's trying to find ways to keep afloat. One worker has already quit.
The Hydro‑Québec project to build an underground transmission line began in late April, but Bachar said he only found out about two weeks before it started. One of his workers was given a verbal notice, he said.
Jean-Talon St. was blocked off in front of his business but reopened this week so cars can now more easily exit the car wash. But Lucerne Rd., which is used to access the entrance of the car wash, is down to one lane. It comes during Details Car Wash's busiest time of year, he added.
'The time is so hard already for small businesses. Believe me, there is not a lot of money here,' Bachar said.
'Business down 80 per cent at District Bagel'
Other merchants are also feeling squeezed. Shulem Greenwald, owner of District Bagel, said he has lost about 80 per cent of his business in the last week after construction picked up in front of his entrance on Lucerne Rd.
He estimated the project has cost him thousands of dollars, noting only a handful of customers popped by for lunch. The detour to access District Bagel is long, he added.
'When you Google it at night, it takes seven extra minutes. But during the day and it's busy in traffic and to detour — probably if somebody wants to come, grab a sandwich or bagel or anything — they'll have to spend an extra 25 minutes just to get to my place,' Greenwald said.
Bachar said he understands the necessity of infrastructure projects, but Hydro‑Québec hasn't gone far enough to help.
In an email to Bachar this week, a Hydro‑Québec employee pointed to a number of mitigation measures, including signage for local detours and police on site to ease traffic.
'We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Please know that we are within our rights to carry out our work,' the email reads.
In an email to The Gazette, Hydro‑Québec described the construction of an underground transmission line to connect two substations as a 'major work.'
'This work will improve the quality of service in a context of increased demand at the Mont-Royal substation,' it wrote, adding the project will be fully completed by the end of summer.
It said that mitigation measures were communicated to merchants beforehand and it remains in 'constant contact with the affected businesses.' It also noted work was sped up to free an area near those companies.
'We plan to finish our excavation and paving work on June 6 in this specific area, in order to free up access to the businesses at the corner of Lucerne and Jean-Talon,' Hydro‑Québec said.
The end of work can't come soon enough for Bachar, who said he would consider a line of credit against his house or borrow money to keep Details Car Wash open, if needed.
'We work very, very hard,' he said.
This story was originally published May 30, 2025 at 5:42 PM.