And don't forget to sign the petition!

Je finissais de travailler à 23h00 mercredi soir. Objectif: partir de Ville Saint-Laurent et me rendre dans Tétreaultville, près du métro Honoré-Beaugrand. D'habitude, à cette heure, ça me prend à peu près vingt minutes. Mais mercredi, ça m'a pris une heure.

J'arrive sur l'autoroute métropolitaine vers l'est, à la hauteur de l'échangeur Marcel-Laurin, et c'est la congestion. On coupe des voies, on ferme des entrées, on fait sortir les gens. N'ayant pas envie d'attendre pendant une heure et d'avoir à passer par les petites rues comme la semaine précédente (on avait carrément fermé l'autoroute cette fois-là), je décide de sortir et de reprendre l'autoroute dans l'autre direction pour prendre Décarie.

Arrivé sur Décarie, il y avait fermeture de voies, mais ça roulait. Enfin, jusqu'à Turcot, où c'était très lent puisqu'on avait fermé une des deux voies. Puis j'arrive sur Ville-Marie, vers le centre-ville, et - surprise! - on a décidé de fermer le tunnel et de faire sortir tout le monde à Saint-Jacques. Ne connaissant pas vraiment ce coin (surtout la nuit et la fatigue aidant) et la signalisation étant inexistante, je me ramasse dans cet espèce de passage bizarre menant au Vieux-Port et où on imagine un mafieux étouffant quelque passager à l'aide d'une corde à tous les passages. De peine et de misère, je rejoins Notre-Dame, après bien sûr avoir été pris dans le trafic des gens qu'on a dévié de Ville-Marie.

Par la suite, j'arrive près de chez moi, et j'ai l'idée de ne pas prendre le viaduc Souligny (qui passe au-dessus de la 25), « au cas où ». Bien vu, le viaduc est fermé la nuit pour réparations.

Je ne sais pas pour vous, mais quand j'ai à subir de tels inconvénients, ça me ramène inexorablement aux grandes coupures des années 90, celles de Lucien Bouchard et de son sacré-saint déficit zéro, celles de Jean Chrétien et sa bande. Il se trouvait à l'époque des gens pour dire que c'était une bonne idée. Aujourd'hui, on en subit les conséquences.

C'est un peu ça le problème avec les politiques économiques de droite. À court terme, ça semble souvent une « bonne idée », mais ensuite ce sont les autres qui réparent les pots cassés! C'est comme si la droite était incapable de voir plus loin que les conséquences immédiates de ses choix.

Alors quand on me parle de faire payer davantage les pauvres en haussant les frais de scolarité, d'électricité, ou autres mesures néolibérales... Je suis plus que sceptique sur la capacité de ces idéologues d'évaluer les conséquences à long terme de leurs choix.

Mais qui viendra réparer les gaffes de nos politiciens d'aujourd'hui? Une route, ça se répare facilement. Mais une génération d'ignorants paupérisés, c'est plus difficile...

You can catch desertchick's Flickr pages here.

"The borough's public works department has spent four weeks cleaning the site, and it will take another four to six weeks to finish the job, Puchin said. The price tag for the cleanup is about $300,000, he added."

Image by grey11 taken june 10, 2008.

And here is Ratsters' photo page.

Les premières nouvelles, à ce sujet, montrent diverses variations sur un même thème.  Selon que l'on visite les sites de Corus Nouvelles (Info 690 AM, 98,5 FM), de Radio-Canada, ou encore de Cyberpresse, on parlera de dommages à des voitures qui ont roulé dans l'énorme nid-de-poule, ou qui ont reçu une pluie de béton.  Il n'en demeure pas moins que la chute de ces morceaux de l'une des bretelles illustre très bien l'état de décrépitude de l'échangeur en entier.  Au point où je me demande s'il va tenir le coup en attendant sa reconstruction, qui devrait être complétée en 2015.

Il s'agit de regarder, lorsque l'on arrive de l'autoroute Décarie, la bretelle qui mène vers l'autoroute Bonaventure (A-15 sud, A-20 est), vers le pont Champlain; les travées "font le rond", d'un pilier à l'autre, comme s'il s'agissait d'un vieux pont de bois!  Personne ne me convaincra que ces voies surélevées sont solides.  On roule là-dessus, mais c'est continuellement à nos risques et périls.  Autre point; je me demande si la partie qui s'est effondrée, ce matin, devait ou non être retenue, en principe, par ces fameux trellis métalliques, installés un peu partout sous les parties surélevées du réseau routier québécois.

La prochaine étape, ce sera quoi, selon vous?  La chute d'une partie de la Métropolitaine?

Graveyard Shift

lajj's Flickr pages are here.

Mapleman

Westmount is one of several demerged cities on the Island.

alxmor claw

gino carrier

lamarelle

And you can catch hirondellecanada's Flickr pages here.

Here is a look at the Mountain street entrance to the freeway. But to get a good visualization of what Turcot will be like, imagine at least 3 lanes going each way and 4 directions criss crossing at some center point.

I suppose these things will require noise barrier walls?

And here is the train embankment near Peel and Wellington.

There is no doubt that at that height noise will be a huge issue. And of course rush hour, when traffic is at a standstill, will produce incredible amounts of pollution that will just blow with the wind. Does not seem like a good idea that shows much concern for health issues in the Southwest.

Good view of the de La Verendrye section that is to be rebuilt in lower right.

Great view of the Lasalle Coke Company with it's two tanks and Newman/Angrignon area.

Skyline has changed a little.

Building Rome.

You can catch Flowizm's Flickr pages here.

You can also catch this last 3 dimensional work over at Factotum's photoblog.

I would like to thank the presenters for their efforts as they are doing something they strongly believe in and have worked very hard to make this evening a great success. Like most people in the non profit sector they are overworked and underpaid, so their efforts are very much appreciated.

Solidarity was a constant theme than came from both the presenters and the participants with their comments and questions. There were a few people from the east end in attendance who are concerned with the proposed Notre Dame East "Decarie Style Trench" that is being planned for that street. And it was suggested that the Notre Dame, Bonaventure, and Turcot road projects be rethought as part of the same transportation plan for the city. The left hand needs to know what the right is doing and, on principle, these massive changes and their impacts should indeed be an integral part of an overall sustainable development plan for the city. Most importantly, the people who live closest to these projects need to be part of the decision making process.

Someone pointed out that the Turcot Interchange sees 280,000 fossil fuel burning vehicles per day. If you look at all highways on the island it works out that any given section will see an average of 7,700 vehicles per hour. At Turcot that hourly average jumps to about 11,000 per hour, thus making that area significantly more prone to noise and air pollution. It is very easy when you are driving through to not realize that people live there.

I would also urge people from the West Island, even the South Shore and Laval, to take a look at this project. A lot of this is all so that you can get downtown as quickly as possible. Out of sight, out of mind is an attitude that has put the planet in trouble. You need to start asking yourselves how you can be of help instead of how many seconds you can theoretically knock off your commute . Start asking your local politicians to lobby for more parking at train stations and take that train.

Health concerns were at the top of the agenda. People who live within 200 meters of a freeway are at considerably higher risk of death or respiratory illness than the general population. This spikes to 30% for children and adults over 60! Lowering the Turcot Interchange will expose the populations of Saint Henri and Cote Saint Paul to even higher levels of carbon emissions.

The idea of rebuilding Turcot on an embankment in order to save on maintenance costs is perhaps the show stopper. The aerial views of Turcot "after" presented by the Ministry of Transportation look all nice and green. But for those on ground level it will be like having a wall built around their neighborhoods, the views being cut off, the already difficult access between these neighborhoods being completely cut off. The embankment will put traffic on average about 6 meters above street level and that is unacceptable.

The number of people being expropriated is another story. MTQ likes to minimize the numbers but whether you call it units or buildings to make it sound insignificant, the fact is at least 300 people are going to have to move under the current plan. And three months rent and a moving allowance just doesn't cut it anymore. This is not the 1950's where people in poor soon-to-be-demolished neighborhoods should be grateful for such attention. I like to think we live in a society that treats it's own people better than that.

Most of the people present seemed to agree that Turcot Rebuilt would work best either as a system of tunnels or remain elevated. The embankment seems to be the worst possible solution in sustainable and social terms.

It was also suggested that for each housing unit torn down during the project, the MTQ be responsible for creating a new unit in the neighborhood.

To further understand the environmental dynamics involved, someone suggested that the number of trees needed to absorb the pollution at Turcot would require a space 40 times the size of Angrignon Park! So much for the series of trees and shrubs in the MTQ plan.

The rising cost of fuel raised some ideas about even the need for such freeways in the future, as there seems to be a shift to trains, trams, and trolleys in so much urban planning debates these days. let alone that a good percentage of drivers won't be able to afford it.

People want to be heard. They want to be dealt with fairly. It isn't a lot when you think about it.

All in all an excellent evening indeed!

Here is the petition. Please fill it in and email it to info@concertationspe.qc.ca

PUBLIC MEETING

Tuesday May 27th at 6:30 pm

At the Gadbois Recreation Complexe, 5485, Chemin de la Côte-Saint-Paul

The Ministry of Transport du Québec (MTQ) plans
to rebuild the Turcot Highway Infrastructure

Here's you're chance to get the latest information
and strategies for mobilization

The Turcot Community Forum is a coalition of community groups, elected officials, and individuals who share a concern for the healthy development and quality of life in the borough of Le Sud-Ouest working in partnership with elected officials, university researchers and other experts. The coalition is looking at the impacts of the Turcot interchange reconstruction project from various perspectives such as health, urban planning, housing and socio-economic repercussions. Input from the citizens of Le Sud-Ouest is needed to ensure that these issues are properly adressed.

http://www.freewebs.com/villagedestanneries/

• from St-Henri and Côte-Saint-Paul,
• the "Village des Tanneries" on the north end of St-Henri,
  on the edge of the 720, and
• the Galt sector south of the Turcot interchange,
  beneath autoroute 15.

We are united as a "Partnership table mobilized for the Turcot project" and have been concentrating on the following points:

• Inform the public, with respect to the various studies conducted by experts who have analysed the impacts of the Turcot Project as currently proposed by the Quebec Minister of Transport.
• Prepare ourselves for the meeting with the "Bureau des Audiences Publiques sur l'Environnement (BAPE)" organized by the Ministry responsible for sustainable development, the environment and parcs.*

We are mobilized against this project, because we believe the South-West will be even more exposed to the ill effects of pollution, in the form of increased traffic and the production of greenhouse gases. One cannot ignore the negative impact this new project will have on the development of this area, numerous apartments and houses will be expropriated and destroyed, forcibly causing citizens from these affected areas to leave their neighborhoods."

_____________________________________________________________________

It takes a whole lot of work to organize neighborhood/community coalitions, but these folks seem to be getting it together. This situation is not about developers and a piece of land or a city district, it is about multiple levels of government ignoring public concerns about projects involving massive shifts in infrastructure and the impact that can have on the surrounding communities. It just isn't good enough for them to say, "trust us, we have done our homework". If so, then how come these projects are presented publicly before the affected citizens are informed?

I would also like to remind people that there is a public information session concerning the Turcot Project this Tuesday, May 27, at 6:30 pm. It will be at Gadbois Centre, 5485 Cote St. Paul road. There is tons of parking available under the Interchange. You can get there by taking Notre Dame west through or to Saint Henri. Or, by Metro you are about a 12 minute walk from Place Saint Henri. The 191 will also let you off at the corner. And buses 36 Monk and 37 Joliquer will let you off at the front door.

See you there!

Turcot Mobilization/Mobilisation Turcot