Saturday, June 30, 2007

Turcot Yards and Exchange

The decision is now made to completely reconstruct the Turcot Exchange and yards at a cost of one and a half billion dollars. Constructiion will start in 2009 and be completed by 2015. Here are photos that appeared in La Presse today. Guy
DECARIE - TURCOT EXCHANGE - NOW
 
TURCOT EXCHANGE WHEN COMPLETED IN 2015
 
TURCOT YARDS - NOW AT LEFT AND WHEN COMPLETED ON RIGHT
PULLMAN STREET ON LEFT -
ANGRIGNON BOUL. ON BOTTOM
ROUTE 20 ON RIGHT
DECARIE TURCOT EXCHANGE IN BACKGROUND
 

18 comments:

les__f MSN said...

Hello Guy,........does this keep the exisitng highway system,......or will it too be lowered to ground level ,now that there are no railyards to interefere with? it certainly would alleviate any fears of collapse due to aging infrastructure, The railways owned a lot of fantastic propwert,.....Up behind the old Bluue Bonnetts all the way to the West End,.......there was a road you take as a short cut through those back yards,.instead of getting in the bumper to bumper Decarie Ezpressway traffic,...............(I can't remember the name of that road through the yards,..but I'm sure someone here probably does.   Good pictures from Lapresse Guy,....Thanks for keeping us up to date on that ,... the Turcot Yards are a familiar ,territory for all of us Montrealer's, Soon all the things we grew up with and took for granted ,as always being there,.will be gone ,.and the kids growing up now in Montreal ,won't have a clue what any of us are Rememberring............hahahahahahah .........and they won't care either......................................                                               Remember when driving around with our parents when we were little kids and hearing them say that they used to live on a certain street,.or where a certain store was at one time,....... We will do the same.........................................                                                                           HaveFunandRememberVerdun

les__f MSN said...

Ahh here we go Guy,.the same stroy does appear in this mornings Gazette as well..............and it does seem to spell the end of the elevated hwy system,.& promises to be simplified quite a bit,.......should be interesting to see,...... Quebec will spend $1.2 to $1.5 billion to demolish and replace Montreal's most important westside interchange, the Turcot exchange. The government hopes that by 2015 the project will be completed. The new interchange will be a completely different design from the current highway junction. It will not be elevated and the tangle of entrance and exit ramps will be simplified              click here for the whole article in the Gazette,if you like: http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=fb1d5f91-6cf3-42fa-b034-aad1909ab169&k=71746                    ......................................................................HF&RV

les__f MSN said...

Also on the speculation program ,.May be the end of the old Central Station,......(to some degree) this would make our friends Fresco & JMH,  a little unhappy,......if it ever came to pass:   Central Station could be big loser in train plan Michelle Lalonde, The GazettePublished: Friday, June 29, 2007 If the Metropolitan Transportation Agency has its way, no commuter trains serving the Montreal region would end up in Central Station after 2017. A study completed this month by the transit agency concluded commuters in the region would be better served by a station under the McGill metro station than they are now by Central Station. The new station, which at this stage is a long-term "wish-list" item for the MTA, would result in tens of thousands fewer people passing each day through the 64-year-old Central Station on la Gauchetiere St., the study reveals. The study estimates that daily downtown-bound commuter train ridership would rise by more than double, to 79,800 passengers, if plans to introduce double-decker cars are realized and if a station were built under the Place Montreal Trust shopping centre on McGill College Ave. As many as 54,700 of those riders would get off at the new station and the rest at Central Station. "In an ideal world for us, yes, we would like to redirect all our lines to end up at this new station," Marie Gendron, AMT's vice-president of communications, said in an interview Friday. "It would be more advantageous for our clients because it is directly connected to the metro, near the (university) campuses, and right downtown."
But it's far too early to sound a death knell for Central Station.
Via Rail spokesperson Malcolm Andrews said his company has no complaints about the terminal and expects to continue using it for a long time. "Via has never to my knowledge looked at moving to a different location. Central Station serves our needs and our customers' needs," Andrews said, noting Via travellers can reach the metro through underground passages from Central Station. Julie Senecal, director of public affairs for CN Rail, which owns the station, said the company would not comment until it has looked at the AMT study.   ............................Always Changing I guess,...............Montreal                                                  HF &  RV

les__f MSN said...

I wonder what these old guys would think? ....a bunch of workers in the old Turcot yards........................ (hope the picture stays?)..I'm not certain due to the site I got it from)                                                                                                 HF&RV

jmhachey MSN said...

Salut Guy ! Merci pour les intéressantes photos de l’échangeur Turcot JM

jmhachey MSN said...

Hi Les ! Good articles on Turcot Interchange. BTW, you posted (last year ???) an interesting photo showing an old house at the foot of one pillar of the Turcot interchange. Would you post it again, please ! Thank you in advance ! JM

les__f MSN said...

Hello JMH  I will try & find that,.I think I know the exact picture your talking about,.but I am not sure where I found it or if I kept it,.... I added 250GB more to my system and ,.I will have to search for it,..or if I'm lucky enough to stumble across that site again,...I will definetly post it for you  ....................                HF&RV

les__f MSN said...

Hi   JMH   is this the photo you were thinking of?  I Remember this one,.but I thought there was another one.......   .................the last photo,.I thought was good to help visualise what the skyline might look like when all this concrete is gone..........               Although the hwy was quite something when it opened,and quite 'futuristic' almost,.........with it's (fiasco) lights built into the walls of the elevated hwy,......which soon were changed,seems noone Remembered that Montreal does get winter ,.and with that comes snow & slush ,.that quickly piled up to hide the 'new lights'...and so then the normal lampstandars were built to illuminate the roadway,................... but I almost think this will really open up the area,.and so a new era will start in Montreal ,.with a real clean look to it,...no more Elevated Hwys,. it will look different,.....but I guess it's time has come:   Also Remember this overpass has somewhat of a VerdunConnection,.as it was Al Leishman's photo from 1966 (roughly) that we posted a few years back ,showing the initial start to the Turcot Interchange:   Ann챕e: 1966
nd
Auteur: Allan Leishman
Commanditaire: Archives f챕d챕rales d'Ottawa
R챕f챕rence: Archives f챕d챕rales d'Ottawa   Actual Opening of the Roadway,.was officially  April 25th,1967 .just in time for the Opening of Expo67,..........and the World came to Visit,.and see all Our Futuristic style................................40years ago !!                ......and now it's slated for demolition-------------

les__f MSN said...

..and soon the Bonaventure Expressway will be gone as well,.......the City most of us Remember will have really changed,.without the elevated Turcot Interchange ,or the contiuation onto the Bonaventue,.........I suppose the Upper Metropolitain,will disappear as well,........ Here's a proposed map of the 'new Bonaventure route.. This simulated map shows the relocated Bonaventure Autoroute (A-10) and University Street Extension, including the proposed tunnel beneath the Lachine Canal. The C$675 million relocation of A-10 is a key component of the Soci챕t챕 du Havre's C$8 billion waterfront development plan. (Map from the Soci챕t챕 du Havre de Montr챕al.)
So  it's   Bye Bye Bonaventure   this shot is from 1979,....................helps us Remember just how big the road was.................... Don't forget they (Drapeau & his admin) also Wiped out Griffintown,.as well as the old Autostade,and many commercila / Indusrial buildings to make way for this Hwy............                      Have Fun & Remember Verdun (Montreal too !!)

les__f MSN said...

Have alook at this artist conception of a new hwy,...............anyone want to guess which hwy this proposal is for   ............I'm sure we all would have immediately said Decarie Expressway of course,.......but in this case some smart & motivated people in toronto,rallied up to defeat this hwy proposal (mind you they had the 'hind sight' of the Decarie Blunder)............but at least they stopped it,........ As we know the Decarie is usually filled with gas fumes and smog,.....and is in noway an 'Expressway'  it's usually bumper to bumper,and not much fun to be in ,especially with the 30+ weather .......YIKES June 1, 2006 Spadina Expressway: A Disaster Averted Is this what the Annex could've looked like? The above rendering is what the vibrant corner of Bloor and Spadina would've looked like if the Spadina Expressway had been built and just one example of how close this city came to making one of its largest planning blunders.   http://torontoist.com/2006/06/spadina_express_1.php ......read the story at the toronto site link above                                                             hf&rv

jmhachey MSN said...

Hi Les ! Yes, it’s the photo. Thank you so much !!! (I think I saved it the first time, but couldn’t retrieve it.) You have more order than me. JM

johnmelinvin2 MSN said...

NICE P ICTURE OF THE TURCOT YARDS...I BET EVERY INDIVIDUAL IN THAT PICTURE HAD A STORY TO TELL..JUST LOVE BLACK AND WHITE PICTURES...DAYS OF PAST..THE GOOD OLD DAYS.

guy5479 MSN said...

Does anybody know where that photo was taken. (Intersection ?) Guy

les__f MSN said...

Hello Guy I have been trying to find out that intersection,.otherthan being noted as CoteSTPaul,.......I really am not sure,...I can't quite make out the sign on the Hwy immediately above the house.....this would help to locate the area,.but I suspect a bike ride along the Cycle path that runs along the old Lachine Canal near the head of Church would bring you right by this place??  That's my guess anyway,..if I do pinpoint the area,.I'll let you know Maybe Google Earth would help if it can zoom in close enough,.........I'll try it later..if I Remember:                                                                                           HF&RV

edbro68 MSN said...

The intersection in question in post 9 is Church and Hadley looking toward Cabot street. Ed

les__f MSN said...

Having a Party.......................seems the residents had a party in the streets of StHenri last night to celebrate there final days of living unde the Turcot Interchange,............No Doubt this will be a big change for us all, if & when any of us get to see the old city again.............. Street party held in St.Henri last night Sat, 2008-09-27 03:33. Catherine SherriffsA street party was held last night by some St.Henri residents living below the elevated Turcot Interchange. When the road structure is torn down next summer, some 160 homes will come down with it too. The Cazelais street residents are trying to raise awareness about the upcoming environmental hearings on the Turcot project, in which they hope to have their disappointments and frustrations heard one last time. But the government has made it very clear that all of the homes and buildings in the area will be bought and torn down. Three months rent and moving expenses will be covered as compensation ............................................another community disappears I guess, and a new (no doubt) more expensive one will arise in it's place...........    HF&RV

kencm3 MSN said...

I was at that party. It was an awesome time. There was a band that was playing a kind of hybrid Punk/Metal that was amazing!  It was really like going 40 years back in time, revolution was in the air - not to mention the smell of various herbs, heh. When the band finished everyone walked up to Saint Remi and blocked traffic with bicycles for 3 minutes - to take back the street - and a banner was dropped from the Ville Marie expressway as a couple of fireworks went off. All this as it started pouring.   It s great to see young people learning that they dont have to go through life like lambs to the slaughter, even if they really can't change a world hell bent on getting dumb and dumber.    It sure doesnt look like the folks in Les Tanneries can get the Turcot plan altered, but they are trying, and are all better people for that effort!   Ken McLaughlin

les__f MSN said...

Ken your recount of the night's activity's remind me of the days when 'sit ins' were the norm to try & change policy for the right to wear blue jeans in school...in the end we won...... and as the yeears have passed I believe it made a lot of us from that era Question Everything...( as someone once said) So I too applaud people trying to stand up for their own percieved rights.... Age makes us more compliant (read resigned to) with the inevitable... Money Talks & the pretending to listen is only a formality by the people who will end up doing what they want anyway..............     However I still believe in the fight ( although i suspect I wouldn't win as man anymore.........hahahahah) Here's an old poem from a book I kept from my oldman when he checked out, it was called Poem's of Inspiration,..and one I think fits the idea of that 'last party' is called   "How Did You Die" by Edmund Vance Cook her's a copy Did you tackle that trouble that came your way With a resolute heart and cheerful? Or hide your face from the light of day With a craven soul and fearful? Oh, a trouble’s a ton, or a trouble’s an ounce, Or a trouble is what you make it. And it isn’t the fact that you’re hurt that counts, But only how did you take it?   You are beaten to earth? Well, well, what’s that? Come up with a smiling face. It’s nothing against you to fall down flat, But to lie there -- that’s disgrace. The harder you’re thrown, why the higher you bounce; Be proud of your blackened eye! It isn’t the fact that you’re licked that counts; It’s how did you fight and why?   And though you be done to death, what then? If you battled the best you could; If you played your part in the world of men, Why, the Critic will call it good. Death comes with a crawl, or comes with a pounce, And whether he’s slow or spry, It isn’t the fact that you’re dead that counts, But only, how did you die? I particularly think the line of saying " It's Nothing Against you to fall down flat,..........but to lie there ,that's disgrace"  .........and these tenants & residents did not 'Lie There' good for them..........certainly does sound like an 'air of the 60's / early 70's ' was alive & well..................                                                      HF&RV