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NIGHTLIFE at the Chambre de commerce: all the dirt on Montreal’s upcoming transportation projects
Crédit: On a beautiful Friday morning, the city's collective coin purse gathered in the lush Hilton Bonaventure downtown to get the skinny on the latest transportation projects soon to change the way you experience the city.

On a beautiful Friday morning, the city’s collective coin purse gathered in the lush Hilton Bonaventure downtown to get the skinny on the latest transportation projects soon to change the way you experience the city. Discussion among suits and some serious networking happened with the behind-the-scenes movers and shakers mingling and trying to figuring out how to bring the loans together to pay for replacing our senior-citizen metro cars or the fancy articulated bus you took to work this morning. Sure, there were really good muffins and enough fresh fruit on silver platters to keep your vitamin intake well within the Health Canada guide’s recommended intake, but the conference was no time to lounge around. Speakers included Mayor Gérald Tremblay, urban planning professors and professionals, the presidents of both the STM and AMT (lesser heard about body that oversees transit planning for the region as a whole on top of operating the commuter rail network) and bigwigs from the political sphere and private consulting firms.

The speakers of the day were drawn from every side of the debate as mentioned above, so it was a blast to watch the academics and public servants argue with the developers over the importance of public transit investment while the economic actors made their claims that what the city needed to be more competitive was more highways and more lanes to get their cars into the city faster – and with less time spent tapping the brakes. All in all though, everyone agreed that  the chronic underfunding of infrastructure (what leads to your shock absorbers and bike tubes being replaced every six months on account of manhole size potholes) has to stop.

This feeling was perfectly encapsulated by what Mayor Tremblay said during one of the question periods, that “it’s not innovative or groundbreaking projects that the city is lacking right now, but funds to make them happen.” Having been presented projects like Aéroport de Montréal’s airport rail shuttle, tramways in the heart of the city and expansions to our iconic rubber-tire metro system, it would be easy to get carried away and salivate about all the ways Montreal is soon put Toronto to shame, but all these amazing projects necessitate tons of money – like 23 Billion over the next ten years… just for the already approved projects! That’s where the difficult job of choosing what projects to fund comes into play. And that’s what the business community assembled Friday morning was there to take a crack at.

Projects you can look forward to seeing soon include the Train to the East, linking the core to Ahuntsic, Pointe-au-Trembles and even Mascouche (providing a link that beats every other mode on time, be it car, bike or bus), a new Champlain bridge announcement which may very well include a cool modern LRT or light rail link (cross-over between an urban-style tram and a commuter rail train like the ones that currently operate in our ‘burbs) and the long awaited and oh-so-fashionable trams. The days of soul-crushing commutes may not be over just yet, but at least you can rest assured that a bevvy of transport pros are hard at work trying to get you home to your comfy crib as quickly as they can.

As a bonus, at the end of the forum Transport Minister Sam Hamad announced a design contest for the entrance to Montreal. Whereas iconic cities in the world normally try and show off their architectural and planning prowess to those coming in, our city has since the days of Trudeau Intl been showing the world highway 20 and the downright fugly industrial section of Lachine. Sam Hamad wants to change this by designing a gateway worthy of our fair city’s talent; we have been a UNESCO city of design for 5 years now, let’s show ‘em what that means!

So if you’re a creator and you’ve got a great idea for how your city should welcome the world, join in on the fun and prepare a submission; the contest’s official launch is June 9 and teams will have until October 7 to send in their proposals. Else, if you just want to find out where your hard earned gas tax and license registration is being spent, follow the latest at the STM, AMT and MTQ websites. Also, google “Ville de Montreal 21 chantiers” to find out what projects your municipal officials are fighting to make happen (videos and sexy artist renditions aplenty). It’s your city and dog gone it, public participation is all the rage, so make the most of it and voice your opinion.

Ohh, and what about TOD? No, that isn’t the MySpace guy, but rather Transit Oriented Development – an urban planning term for putting homes, shops and other activity in close proximity to transit stops like metro and commuter rail stations. And now that your lesson of the day is learned, get out there and enjoy your city!

 

Hamad’s urban design contest is to be handled by the CPEUM (Chaire en paysage et environnement de l’Universite de Montreal), check website for updates | paysage.umontreal.ca

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