Presidents Cup set to tee off as traffic concerns abound

Presidents Cup traffic plan criticized Ile Bizard braces for congestion as major event begins.

In just a few days, the world's top golfers will be teeing off at the Royal Montreal Golf Club.

The Presidents Cup is back in Montreal and the final touches are being added to the golf course.

"This is the PGA Tour's largest global event," Ryan Hart, Presidents Cup executive director, said. "It's only come back to a very small amount of communities."

In the lead-up to this international event, there is a lot of talk about traffic. The City of Montreal has implemented a traffic plan. Only residents with a vignette pass will be allowed on Ile Bizard by car.

Spectators will have to use a shuttle to access the site.

The city says it's trying to avoid problems that arose the last time the tournament came to town.

"Part of the problem in 2007, people were parking their cars everywhere," Philippe Sabourin, City of Montreal spokesperson, said. "We're pretty confident that we will avoid major congestion."

Ile Bizard has only one access point for cars, and the new Jacques-Bizard bridge isn't finished yet.

About 30,000 people are expected on site every day, so the city has put a pause on some nearby construction work to help ease traffic.

"I don't think that bridge has any bearing on any decisions that we would or wouldn't make," Hart said. "If we thought there was a challenge and we thought there was going to be risk, we wouldn't have come back."

The mayor of Ile-Bizard-Sainte-Genevieve is not happy with the traffic plan.

"Basically, we're telling our citizens for six days, you're going to have to make some additional sacrifices," Doug Hurley, borough Mayor, said.

He said residents of Sainte-Genevieve, a neighbourhood on the other side of the bridge, were not given vignettes.

"We have half of my borough, Sainte-Genevieve that's not allowed to come and cross the bridge to come on the other side of the island."

On Tuesday, he said he will be on the ground to see how things are going and help with what could be a tricky commute.