Conference considers the Village
There’s a conference on about the future of the Village, which has been hit hard by pandemic lockdowns and consequences.
Next year the city will hold another conference, this time on how to deal with too many roadworks.
Joey 11:29 on 2022-09-21 Permalink
If anyone wants to know how not to deal with roadwork, I encourage you to check out Queen Mary just west of Cote des Neiges any day this week around 8am. There’s a short construction job being done just east of Cote des Neiges that is creating a huge eastbound traffic jam – cars line up, immobile, well past Victoria. Nobody running the traffic lights or directing cars. Just a huge mess.
Ian 13:31 on 2022-09-21 Permalink
Earlier this summer they blocked off both sides of the street for a full city block. They were intalling a bixi stand on the corner. Not even the crew knew why the whole block was no parking other than that’s what the permit allowed. Even 311 had no idea what was going on.
The main problem is that there is no coordination of construction sites, just construction zones and general dates. This is why we see sites that block off whole streets with apparently nothing or little going on… simply because they can.
qatzelok 14:24 on 2022-09-21 Permalink
I don’t understand why the city would facilitate private motor car travel.
Can someone please explain to me why allowing cars to quickly tear through neighborhoods is important.
Please start your explanation with: “It’s important that private motor cars flow smoothly through neighborhoods because….”
Ian 20:11 on 2022-09-21 Permalink
Qatzi, do you never take the bus, or a cab, or a shared vehicle? It must be nice to live within bike/walk distance of everything and have no issues with mobility like strollers or arthritis…
Roads benefit everyone, not just car drivers. I hope you never need an ambulance.
DeWolf 11:48 on 2022-09-22 Permalink
Ian, none of what you mentioned are private vehicles. Literally nobody is suggesting we get rid of roads (!!). Buses, taxis, car share, it’s all good.
But you can’t hide the fact that a large majority of people on the road are driving alone in their private car. It’s an incredible waste of resources that increases the burden on infrastructure and costs billions of year to maintain. It’s one of the leading sources of carbon emissions – road transport accounts for 36% of Quebec’s carbon emissions, and a huge chunk of that is people driving alone. On top of all that, the ever-increasing amount of private vehicles in the city makes our streets hostile and anti-social.
There’s no reason why it should be the norm for the average, able-bodied person to drive alone, tear through streets at 50 km/h and warehouse their giant piece of metal for free (or nearly for free) directly in front of their residence. Or why a residential street should have 60 feet of concrete and asphalt just to accommodate private cars, instead of greenery, playgrounds, community facilities, etc.
Private cars have their uses, but if we keep designing our cities primarily to accommodate the flow of private vehicles above all else, we’re just digging ourselves into a bigger and bigger hole.
Ian 12:24 on 2022-09-22 Permalink
Explain to me in simple terms how the city deciding to look into too many roadworks = “It’s important that private motor cars flow smoothly through neighborhoods because”.
Qatzi built a straw man, and you went for it.
Too many roadworks and a lack of coordination affects everything from how your vegetables get to the grocery store to how come a bus that is supposed to come every 10 minutes only comes every 20.
And yes, it is important that bicyclists and delivery trucks and postal workers and ambulances and fire trucks and hydro crews and waterworks etc. have clear and easy access, or can at least consult an updated map of road closures. They all get blocked up by the random street closures, it doesn’t just somehow affect only private vehicles. It’s a pain in the butt for pedestrians too, as quite often the sidewalks are blocked up as well.
Seriously, I get that you guys think cars are awful, but get a grip and look around. If there were no cars in the city at all as of tomorrow besides taxis and rideshare, the streets would still be a mess, public transit would still be unreliable, and there would still be tons of hazardous conditions for everyone anywhere near the work sites… especially since the city has no idea what actual site are in operation at any given time.
Not attempting even the most basic coordination sounds very “we tried nothing and we are all out of ideas”.