Trees Cut Down On Crowley/Prudhomme

A reader sent in some photos of tree cutting on a little green space along the Decarie. Apparently they are preparing for the construction of the Superhospital down the road which may actually get built one day. ” Only have french language flyer. The pictures are taken on June 18th and 19th…..location is Prud’homme, from Upper Lachine
south to Crowley…and the construction and killing of trees has started. Residents on Prud’homme and Crowley, are upset….”

(scanned from flyer)
Avis aux residents -

Travaux preparatoires a l’arrivee du CUSM-

Le Service des infrastructures, transport, et environnement de la Ville de Montreal vous informedu debut des travaux preparatoires a l’arrivee du Centre universitaire de sante McGill (CUSM) au Campus Glen, dans le secteur sud – ouest du quartier Notre -Dame- de- Grace.

Ces travaux debuteront au debut du mois de juin et se poursuivront en plusieurs etapes jusqu’a l’automne 2009. Deux chantiers distincts se derouleront en meme temps a deux endroits differents.

CHANTIER de L’AVENURE CROWLEY -
Ce premier chantier permettra de raccorder le chemin Upper Lachine a l’avenue Crowley en croisant l’avenue Prud’homme. Ces travaux sont efectues en prevision de la reconstruction du viaduc ferroviaire du Canadien Pacifique prevue en 2010 – 2011. Cependant le raccordement
au chemin Upper-Lachine restera ferme tant que la reconstruction du viaduc ferroviaire ne sera pas entreprise.

CHANTIER du BOULEVARD DECARIE -
Un second chantier permettra a la Commission des services electriques de Montreal de construire un nouveau reseau electrique souterrain en bordure du boulevard Decarie ( cote est ), entre la rue Saint – Jauques et la boulevard De Maisonneuve. Ces travaux sont requis pour l’arriee du CUSM et l’elargeissement du boulevard Decarie.

ENTRAVE et CIRCULATION -
Durant ces travaux, la circulation locale sera maintenue sur l’avenue Prud’homme. Le stationnement sera interdit sur l’avenue Crowley ainsi que sur le boulevard Decarie. Afin de faciliter la circulation , le boulevard Decarie sera a double sens, entre l’avenue Crowley et la rue Saint-Jacques. La circulation des vehicules lourds se fera obligatoirement par le boulevard Decarie via la rue Saint -Jacques. Aucun camion de chantier ne devra emprunter l’avenue Prud’homme.

UPPER-LACHINE -
Des travaux d’infrastructues a la hauteur du chemin Upper-Lachine, entraineront la fermeture de la voie sud entre la rue Addington et le boulevard Decarie.
Toutefois, la circulation en direction ouest sera interdite et detournee par le boulevard De Maisonneuve a partir du boulevard Decarie.

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The Ice Storm 1998

Here a bit late after 3 adventurous weeks pretty much away from the ‘ol computer (and all I am going to say about that is that it is amazing how busy you can get during the Holiday Season and, yes, had a pretty good time overall). Most of you are probably getting bored with this story by now, but if you aren’t, Fagstein has links to Every. Story. Ever. or at least comes close right here.

Here is the quick version of my story. In Verdun on day 2 or 3 of no power and a friend suggests we walk up to the McDonalds on Lasalle blvd. To my surprise it was open because it is linked on the same grid as Verdun General Hospital. So I ate a Big Mac and fries voluntarily and had to admit it was better than I remembered for your typical fast fat and sodium dish. We went back the next day and they had no burgers left, just some fries, cherry pies and an apparently endless supply of soda. As far as I am concerned, Verdun McDonald’s Runs Out Of Burgers, should have scooped the whole silly province without power story that was making the rounds. Sigh. Yes, folks, turns out the first 2 weeks of January ’98 were just as dull as today except there was no electricity and the Verdun McDonald’s Ran Out Of Burgers.

And here are some images courtesy of Le Journal de Montreal.

Wiki Article

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Habitat Designer Opts Out Of Glen Project

Moshe Safdie, who designed Habitat ’67, has apparently opted out of the Glen Superhospital project because he did not want it to be a public/private ownership, or P3, as they say these days, though exact details are unavailable. Gazette article here.

Will be very interesting to see the designs especially with how they regard getting vehicles in and out of the location without turning that part of NDG into a perpetual logjam.

Dec. 10 update confirming Safdie left over P3 plan. It is, as suggested in the article, completely against the grain of the whole Medicare concept to have even partial private ownership of hospitals. Our governments are copping out big time because they don’t know how to do things properly anymore. We need new young leaders who have their heads outside that dead box of Modernism in order to move forward with a society that works well for everyone and not just those who have enough money to live in that very dead but ridiculously over extended box.

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Public Consultation in NDG – November 19, 7pm

Finally, the MTQ people have agreed to hold a public consultation meeting for residents of NDG (for some completely unknown reason they did not originally see NDG as an area that would be directly affected by the new Turcot plan/construction hence the pressure to get a meeting there) on November 19 at 7pm at the Saint Raymond Centre, 5600 Upper Lachine Road.

Of course this leaves citizens with as little time to get organized as possible. Still, there is hope that some of the concerns raised by residents of NDG will be publicly heard.

Here is the blurb from The Green Party.

TRANSPORT QUEBEC HOLDS PUBLIC HEARINGS ON THE TURCOT INTERCHANGE

 IN NDG

   The NDG Green Party of Quebec is pleased to annouce that our
pressure campaign to force Transport Quebec to hold a public hear
-ing in NDG has payed off, and it is scheduled for Monday 
Nov 19th at 7pm at the St-Raymond  center at 5600 Upper 
Lachine road.

 Here are 3 specific important questions about the Turcot 
rebuild that the NDG Green Party would like answered:

1- Will the new electric tram-train link between downtown and 
Dorval  airport, using the CP tracks through Montreal West, NDG 
and Westmount, be  operational before highway 20 lane closings 
occur in 5 years, so that  there is an alternative way for more residents to get downtown or to  the airport before the big 
delays begin? 
 
2- The Turcot planners want to demolish the St-Jacques bridge 
over the  highway in 2010 for several years while they build 
the new highway 15  lanes below.  At the same time, the MUHC 
planners want to close the  deficient Decarie Street underpass 
under the CP tracks in 2010 to rebuild  it as the first, 
necessary step in their controversial traffic plan for  the 
Glen hospital site.  
 CLOSING BOTH THESE KEY ROUTES AT THE SAME TIME WILL ALLOW 
NO WAY FOR TRAFFIC FROM DOWNTOWN TO PROCEED WEST AND NORTH 
INTO NDG.  Please let  the residents of NDG know which will
be first and precisely what  alternative routes will be 
recommended to drivers. 

3- Transport Quebec wants to move Highway 20 and the CN-Via 
tracks  right up against the St-Jacques escarpment to free 
up land near Notre Dame  street for development or a park. 
 We feel that it would make more  sense to leave the highway 
where it is now:
  -if the St-Jacques escarpment eco-territory was fully 
upgraded  into a linear park with a nice bicycle-cross 
country ski trail running  along its length (just such a path 
was started by the RCM in 1994) and  also with several paths 
or stairs running up and down it (one such police  car 
accessible road already exists and comes out on St-Jacques 
near  Cavendish), the residents of NDG and St-Raymond 
(which the city plans to  densify) would have good access 
to this park,
 - at the same time, a new sustainable residential development
 could be encouraged in the Turcot yards because of pedestrian 
and bicycle  access to this park and through it to the retail
 stores that already  exist along St-Jacques at the top of the escarpment.
  -Transport Quebec's plan, on the other hand, would mean 
creating a hard to access from any side strip of park or 
development between heavy industrial Notre Dame St.(with 
the Lachine Canal behind it true, but with even heavier 
industry across the canal there in LaSalle) and the newly moved highway 20.
 

So please come out on Monday Nov 19th at 7pm to the St-Raymond 
center at 5600 Upper Lachine road to hear Transport Quebec's 
answers to these and also your important questions about 
this massive project and its effects on NDG in the years ahead.

Peter McQueen
President of the NDG riding association
Green Party of Quebec
514 678 5515

 

I urge everyone to attend this and see for yourself how democracy is served in this city so Be There!

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There’s All Kinds Of Money

An article in last week’s Gazette talks about how a team of researchers have been given $1,000,000 over 5 years to study the MUCH superhospital project. Heck, where’s my dough? I’ve been studying Turcot Yards for a few years now and I am sure there is a need for an independant on site consultant over the next decade or so.

Will these projects be spectacular failures like Mirabel and Olympic Stadium? Will the Projet Turcot become Montreal’s Big Dig? Sadly, there is a history here that says they probably will.

The ‘ol recipe for disaster, take two old adjacent rail yards and build a superhospital on the one and rebuild countless freeway interchanges while creating theoretical uses for the remaining land, seems to be in the thawing stage.

When the NDG ramp to the Turcot Interchange gets permanently closed (that’s right, permanently closed) in the not too distant future we will be able to witness one of the greatest urban construction site traffic jams in the history of driving. Stay tuned.

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