Well, folks, sad as it may seem, it really has come down to having to look to Toronto for an example of intelligent urban planning in regard to a Montreal development concept. On July of 2006 I posted this about Toronto celebrating 35 years without the proposed Spadina Expressway. Ok, so the proposed trench – a freeway – on Notre Dame East will not cut through downtown, but still, do we really need another large freeway on the island whose sole purpose is to encourage traffic congestion and excessive automobile use?
Kate over at Montreal City Weblog makes two predictions suggesting the project will run over budget from $750,000,00 to about 1.5 billion and that the area will be just as gridlocked during rush hour as it is now. I just wish I could share her optimism.
The number one rule with mega projects in Montreal is to allow for 3-5 times what the actual estimates are, and that is before any problems turn up. To expect it to be done on schedule and on budget is almost hopelessly romantic – just think of the renovations on the Main last year which was a small scale no brainer type project and ask yourself who is actually in charge of all this? And why would I believe that these projects can actually be pulled off properly?
As I have said many times before we seem to be committing to projects whose long term practical purposes are obsolete as they come off the drawing board. And I have also suggested that this is because we have allowed ourselves to be ruled by people whose brains’ are mired in some kind of Modernist funk. We need something a little more creative than just building freeways in order to eradicate traffic congestion which anyone who is paying attention knows does not work.
Here is a quote I love.
“Widening roads to solve traffic congestion is like loosening your belt to cure obesity,”says Walter Kulash, a traffic engineer from Orlando, Fla.
Other cities already have or are considering tearing down their freeways as the Modern Freeway System has obviously met with a futuristic failure. We were doing it wrong, people!
You can find the quote above and much interesting info at this site, Removing Freeways – Restoring Cities.
Gazette article on project also shows how City Hall refuses to listen to citizens and does not stick to it’s word.
And here is a local site where you can sign a petition against the project.
Come on, Toronto was never planned as poorly as many seem to think. In addition to those expressways that were never built that would have included the destruction of neighbourhoods and historic properties, along with providing opportunity for more congestion (”loosening the belt” as that traffic engineer put it so brilliantly), Toronto also saved a lot of of streetcar network. I heard talk of Montreal bringing back streetcars.
Toronto’s streetcars are great. Spadina is a fascinating street- wide enough to have street cars and full downtown traffic with tons of pedestrians and it doesn’t feel overly crazy.
Montreal bringing back street cars seems to be dangerously close to falling into dependency on some not so well thought out mega plans. I mean you either make it part of a plan to improve public transportation or forget it. The word, “Tram” pops up a lot here, and it has such a boutique and tourist ring to it.