City changes Plateau roadwork plans
City workers were just about to start digging on part of the Main between Mont‑Royal and St‑Joseph, but an outcry from merchants along that stretch has made the city put the work off till autumn. Roadwork planned along St‑Denis for the Réseau express vélo that would’ve obliterated terrasse space all summer has also been shifted so restaurant owners can have terrasses all summer – on both sides of the street.
Ian 08:24 on 2020-06-23 Permalink
I was wondering about that as I passed yesterday, the whole stretch was down to one lane, which given that Mont-Royal is closed to traffic meant that there was something approximating a perpetual traffic jam even mid-day on weekday.
I also noticed the work crews took out all the distancing poles the borough had installed in front of businesses where people line up like Rachelle-Berry on Villeneuve, so it’s not like it was just drivers being inconvenienced.
“These works “escaped” the vigilance of the elected officials of the borough”
Hahaha oh dear the vigilance of the borough I was calling 311 last year and they literally have no idea when any particular intersection might be blocked as the entire construction site is considered under the control of the contractors, who can block the street at their discretion without warning anyone throughout the entire duration of the construction permit. This is true for the Plateau and Outremont, I don’t know about other boroughs. I can only imagine how maddening it must be for the fire department or ambulances.
Ginger Baker 15:37 on 2020-06-23 Permalink
Montrealers: THESE ROADS ARE TERRIBLE, THE MAYOR NEEDS TO FIX THE ROADS!
Also Montrealers: WTF!? ROADWORK?! WHY DOES THE THE MAYOR HATE BUSINESS!?
Kate 18:33 on 2020-06-23 Permalink
Ginger Baker, I’ve noticed that and commented on it before. I mean, who do they think the roads are being fixed for? But the media tend to encourage this “oh dear, more orange cones, woe is us” response.
Ian 19:56 on 2020-06-23 Permalink
As in all matters, timing and context is important. Who could possibly know?
Without consulting the locals or tracking street closures precisely, I mean.
walkerp 07:07 on 2020-06-24 Permalink
I think that dissonance is fully justified. The piece you are skipping out is how long and expensive and repetitive and badly managed the work is done. I mean look at the new sidewalk pedestrian area on Maguire just east of the Main, that work has been going on for years. You walk by there and nobody is working day after day. If they would do the work even semi-efficiently instead of obviously stealing from the public trough, you might get a bit more patience from the citizens.
Ephraim 08:04 on 2020-06-24 Permalink
@walkerp – The British solved that problem by putting down a cost per hour for road closures in their contracts. Cheaper during the night than during the day. All of a sudden construction companies started doing the work really quickly and the repairs even faster, because if the road was closed, they were paying.
Alison Cummins 10:29 on 2020-06-24 Permalink
It’s not just whether the job is done efficiently, to spec and in a timely way. *What is the spec?*
Yes, water runs down the mountain and washes our roads away. Yes, water infiltration gets us frost heaves in winter. But rather than shrug our shoulders and resign ourselves to roadwork and roads that instantly go bad, is it not possible to build the roads properly in the first place? With deep, well-drained beds? Surfaces that drain? And renewed sewer and utility pipes? And bury everyone’s cable?
Yes, it’s expensive. So we don’t do the whole city all at once. We pick a spot and do that. Then it’s done and we pick another spot and do that. Over the next forty years – say – we should be able to get all the roadbeds properly done and free up a whole bunch of money for other things than patching potholes.
If we plan ahead and we know that ten years from now we’ll need to close down, say, Saint-Denis for two years… make a plan. Warn the businesses. Get a committee to participate in planning for mitigation. Start by redoing the back alleys where deliveries are done so that they are attractive to shoppers and the businesses can run out the back for a bit. Run little shuttles to get people to nice spots from the metro. Make sure the shops are accessible by bike. Provide cheap loans so that property owners can use the time to do renovations of their own. Something like that. I’m sure they’d come up with better ideas.
Then build a trolley line down the middle and make it one-way. Or something. These used to be boulevards that people strolled along. Great for shopping. We really don’t need as many cars in the city as we think, as long as the infrastructure is there.
+++ +++ +++
RE doing jobs to spec: I once asked an engineer why Quebec had such a reputation for shoddy work. She replied that standards are the same everywhere: Quebec doesn’t have worse standards. I repeated my question. “Well, there are cultural differences. In other places it’s routine and expected that both the contractor and the client have their own inspectors. Here, we usually expect that the contractor’s inspector is competent and that the client doesn’t need to hire their own inspector. That would be an unnecessary expense.”
Oh. Well. That’s nice.
MarcG 11:48 on 2020-06-24 Permalink
That sounds like a nice way to describe cronyism – why would you need to inspect the work of a close friend or family member? It would be rude.
Ian 22:00 on 2020-06-24 Permalink
Those brown envelopes aren’t just a convention, there is an implied arrangement involved in which no further scrutiny is expected.