And 4 Metro Stations Nearby!

At the public consultation last night (there was close to 200 there) the panel mentioned on a few occasions that the Projet Turcot had 4 metro stations nearby. Um, Vendome, ok, Place Saint Henri, ok, Angrignon? Well, it is about a 15 minute walk from the Angrignon interchange. Joliquer? A bit of a stretch but it is about a 10 minute walk from the Laverendrye “interchange” – as they like to call it. It’s an off ramp, is going to be an off ramp, but I guess being able to say, “the Projet Turcot involves rebuilding 4 interchanges” just feels real good!

So why are these Metro (subway) stations even mentioned as an important part of the deal? Best I can figure is that during the construction cars will be held up so long that it will be good for motorists to always know where the nearest Metro station is.

We got a good look at how projects today get presented in all their green glory. We flip from a shot of a run down, sparse, sickly, Turcot Interchange to a new sprawling interchange that is practically chocking on the lush assortment of trees, shrubs, and otherwise filled in with the colour green areas. It’s beautiful, but there is one very wrong thing with that picture. There are only about 6 cars using it.

With the 20 and the railroad pulled way over to flow along the bottom of the Falaise Saint Jacques there is going to be a huge available space roughly in the middle of Turcot Yards. On the chart this is your basic green fill with little swirls here and there to indicate it may become a green space. Nice thought, but there are those ominous words, “To Be Developed”. The Falaise Saint Jacques is an official “Ecoterritory” of the City Of Montreal. Let’s not let anyone get any crazy idea about a park being developed there and ruining the “organic noise barrier” aspect of the Falaise. Nope, a few rail lines and a freeway will take care of that madness. We would rather kill the Falaise with our construction than let those econuts have their way.

Some housing in Saint Henri is going to be demolished, Businesses will be closing in Saint Henri and Cote Saint Paul. That is the unfortunate side effect of progress known as the couldn’t come up with any other way approach. Will Saint Henri become a heavily populated ghost town as no one in their right mind is going to think of driving there between 2009-2015 (think of la rue Saint Laurent 2007). It’s a good thing people are so conscious of sustainability issues in NDG because once this project starts they might as well all sell their cars (NDG is great because it has access to 2.5 Metro stations).

And on it goes. They did say that this plan was chosen from a list of 5 closely looked at by experts, including some without a vested interest in Transport Quebec. That is reassuring, but they do not seem willing to share with the public what some of those alternatives could be. Good thing we all know where the Metro Stations are.