A long-awaited highway that bypasses Montreal and eases congestion on the island may finally become a reality after Ottawa and Quebec agreed to share its billion-dollar costs.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Quebec Premier Jean Charest made the announcement Sunday in the town of Léry, on Montreal's south shore.

The four-lane toll Highway 30 will be built on the south shore as an alternate east-west route to circumvent the island altogether.

In the past, the highway has been a pet project of several governments that promised money but never started construction.

This time, the federal government is putting its money where its mouth is, Harper declared at the announcement.

"Highway 30 will help residents in this region to get where they want to go more quickly and more easily."

The toll highway will cost as much as one billion dollars and is affordable only through a public-private partnership that is still under negotiation.

Farmers object; environment board approved

Farmers in the area are diametrically opposed to the project because it will encroach on an estimated 500 hectares of green space. They'd prefer to see the existing Highway 132 extended instead.

But that's not what an environmental assessment board concluded earlier in 2006, and the government is basing its support for the project on the board's recommendation, Charest said. 

"That way we will continue to have route 132 as an alternate route that continues to be accessible to the local people. And in that respect I think there is a very solid reason to go to the south and to follow the recommendations of the environmental assessment process."

Charest added the government would take measures to minimize the environment impact caused by the construction of a new road.

'It's very positive': Montreal's mayor

The highway extension was being warmly welcomed by Montreal officials, who hope it will thin out traffic congestion in and off the island.

"It's very positive. We've been asking for the past five years that we'd have this bypass highway. I hope it happens as soon as possible," said Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay.

Bids for the project will begin as soon as 2008.