SameGuy

Oh yeah, and if we are going to renovate it fully, in my dream world the new Parc Jean-Drapeau would need a modern, automated people mover, and it’d have to go through the dome just like the Minirail!

I accept and share your opinion. 😄🤝

Le REM de l'Est inquiète des ministères Alexandre Shields 13 août 2021 Transports / Urbanisme Les structures aériennes du futur REM de l’Est, avec leur aspect « peu esthétique », pourraient créer « des enclaves », mais aussi avoir un effet négatif sur la « convivialité » des rues avoisinantes et sur l’image touristique de Montréal, concluent les experts de ministères du gouvernement du Québec, dans des avis rédigés dans le cadre de l’évaluation du mégaprojet de transport de la Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. Le ministère du Tourisme se dit ainsi « préoccupé des effets de l’insertion aérienne d’un métro léger sur la convivialité des rues, car de telles structures, outre leur aspect peu esthétique, agissent souvent comme barrières qui découragent les échanges de part et d’autre de la structure ». Dans leur avis produit en prévision de la réalisation de l’étude d’impact du projet par la Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ Infra), les experts évoquent même un risque pour l’image de marque de Montréal. Le ministère du Tourisme « est préoccupé de l’impact que l’insertion aérienne d’un métro léger aura sur l’attractivité de la métropole au plan esthétique. L’aspect esthétique influence grandement l’attractivité d’une destination et son choix par les touristes et excursionnistes ». Dans le document contenant 17 avis de différents ministères, et qui vient d’être publié au Registre des évaluations environnementales, le ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS) aborde par ailleurs le risque d’« enclavement » ou de « fracture urbaine » lié à l’implantation de la future structure aérienne de béton, qui doit s’appuyer sur de très nombreux piliers de béton, au cœur de Montréal. « Un REM en hauteur pourrait créer des enclaves alors qu’on vante le fait qu’il les réduit dans d’autres secteurs (Montréal-Nord). La circulation sous les structures semble peu conviviale », soulignent les experts du MSSS. « Le promoteur devrait s’assurer de ne pas créer d’enclaves dans les quartiers et préciser quelles seront les mesures qu’il compte utiliser pour ne pas en créer », ajoute le ministère. Les préoccupations soulevées par ces deux ministères font écho aux avis d’experts, d’élus et de citoyens des quartiers qui seraient traversés par le Réseau express métropolitain (REM). Plusieurs ont sévèrement critiqué la décision de CDPQ Infra d’opter pour un tracé majoritairement aérien pour le REM de l’Est. Dans le cadre d’une « consultation publique » sur le projet, dont les résultats viennent d’être publiés, les préoccupations quant au choix d’une structure aérienne ont d’ailleurs été évoquées par les participants. Selon certains, le choix de cette option s’est fait au détriment de la qualité de vie des citoyens, des milieux et des paysages urbains. Dans son avis, le ministère de l’Environnement et de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques (MELCC) souligne d’ailleurs la nécessité de présenter, dans l’étude d’impact, « une description des impacts psychosociaux susceptibles d’affecter la qualité de vie des citoyens en raison des nuisances induites par le projet (modification du climat sonore, de la qualité esthétique du paysage, de la qualité de l’air et des conditions de circulation, notamment), durant les phases de construction et d’exploitation ». Selon la version préliminaire du projet, 25 des 32 kilomètres du tracé sont prévus en voies aériennes. Celles-ci longeront le boulevard René-Lévesque, puis la rue Notre-Dame, avant de se diviser en deux tronçons dans le secteur de Viau. L’un de ces tronçons ira jusqu’à Pointe-aux-Trembles, en longeant la rue Sherbrooke, tandis que l’autre ira vers le nord, jusqu’à Montréal-Nord. Pour en lire davantage, svp suivez ce lien.

Ooh hot take mes amis! La fin du boom actuel n'étant pas en vue, nous semblons manquer de nombreuses occasions d'élever le niveau de conception des edifices mid-rise.

J’accepte ton opinion, même si je ne le partage pas. 😄🤝

100% d’accord! They may not fit the modern aesthetic, but they are definitely a fine example of the style. OT: comment ça va la guérison? PS: is “off-topic” “hors-sujet” en français?

Lol almost exactly what I’ve said here and there

I was kind of hoping they’d plunk down millions to renovate Bucky Fuller’s dome to original condition like they’ll (hopefully) be doing to Place des Nations.

Over the CP tracks for easier access to Métro Namur, but I think any eventual exo SJ station nearby will be across Decarie at SmartCentres or Decarie Square.

Yeah maybe, good guess. The rendering looks pretty great, I hope they can pull it off and get a high-quality tenant or tenants for the Coronation building section.

That’s a nice picture, David! Mais me semble que rien ne se passe encore. 🤷🏻‍♂️

It’s the way it looks because it’s the way it looks. The catenary system itself is ugly, but the poster of those photos above chose to focus on specific poles and wires above track switches, which — because of complexity — are particularly ugly. A catenary will never look beautiful. In other words, they will be installed whether we like them or not. I didn’t say we should just shrug it off because other stuff is uglier so “why should we do better”, I simply said that they will not stand out compared to all the other ugliness in our city, such as all the overhead utility wires and their creosote-soaked pine log poles. Just by the way, this has nothing to do with “city of design” either. Here is what the same Metropolis looks like in a similar system, in one of the most beautiful cities on the planet, Sydney: In a normal perspective with normal human vision, sure, the poles and wires are there, but they don’t dominate the field of view. But play with perspective and foreshortening with a telescopic lens — as has been done time and again — and it looks imposing indeed… but our eyes don’t work this way:

A deep dive into North America’s second deepest subway station Ron Stang August 6, 2021 Pictured is the original Mont Royal train tunnel, which has been excavated for passenger waiting platforms and new tracks for REM light rail trains. Down, down, down we descend in a construction elevator through a grid of structural steel in a shaft that will eventually become the second deepest subway station in North America. The station, Edouard-Montpetit, nestled on the northern flank of Montreal’s more than 200-metre-high Mont Royal, colloquially “the mountain,” already exists for the city’s subway system or Metro. But since opening 35 years ago, residents in the municipal borough that surrounds the station have complained that to get to downtown Montreal they have had to circuitously take two or three subway lines, adding almost a half hour to the journey. This, when immediately below the station an existing commuter train line for decades had run through an underground tunnel reaching downtown in about 10 minutes. Come 2024 the residents’ wait will be over. That’s because the shaft we are travelling through is part of a complex that will drop 72 metres, linking the Metro station to that one-time commuter train line. Only now, that commuter line will be transformed into the city’s new Reseau express metropolitain (REM), a 67-kilometre, 26-station light rail system that will link downtown Montreal to its northern, southern and western suburbs as well as Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport. And, for long-suffering residents, travel under the mountain between Edouard-Montpetit and McGill — the most immediate downtown station — will now take less than three minutes. “The neighbours will finally get quick access to downtown,” station project manager Jean-Philippe Pelletier said. “It’s a huge game changer for the transit system.” Construction of the Edouard-Montpetit station began three years ago. One of three entranceways to the existing Metro station was demolished to make way for the REM portal. Then 500 mini dynamite blasts were required to blow away 25,000 cubic metres of intrusive rock, the kind that makes up the bulk of Mont Royal, part of an ancient volcanic complex. From street level, this is a shaft off Montreal’s Boulevard Edouard-Montpetit that descends into what will be North America›s second deepest subway station. “It’s an old volcano. It’s really dense rock,” Pelletier said. Blasting required surgical precision because crews wanted to provide the least disruption to the densely populated neighbourhood above. For larger areas of the shaft as much as 100 to 300 cubic metres were detonated at a time and for smaller areas, like pedestrian tunnels and passenger waiting platforms, 20 to 250 cubic metres. Detonations usually took place a couple of times a day between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. for “all the courtesy that we could give,” Pelletier said. That said, neighbouring elementary school children “were really excited about the shake and movement of the ground,” he chuckled. Rock excavation finished last November. Accordingly, station architects have included two visual features for passengers, swaths of the original intrusive rock to connect with Mont Royal’s geology. The rest of the rock, all through the shaft and concourses, has been covered with shotcrete before interior architecture finishes are installed. The construction elevator descends 56 metres to what will be the mezzanine concourse level connecting the Metro Blue Line and the REM. From there passengers will descend the remaining 14 metres to the REM platforms. Five high speed elevators will whisk passengers to street level in 20 seconds. “It’s really high capacity because it’s too high to have stairs (except for emergency),” REM spokesman Jean-Vincent Lacroix said. The Edouard-Montpetit station will be the second deepest, the equivalent of 20 storeys, in North America, doubling the depth of the Metro’s Charlevoix station, currently Montreal’s deepest. North America’s deepest transit station is Washington Park in Portland, Ore. at 79 metres. Currently the mezzanine, flanked by the massive structural steel grid, is an uneven surface of aggregate as crews prep openings for smaller connecting passenger tunnels, escalators and stairways. The structural steel complex won’t hold only the elevators but electrical equipment and one of two ventilation shafts. The other will be located at the mountain’s downtown or south portal at the McGill station. Previously there was only one shaft, but former commuter trains didn’t stop here and weren’t as frequent as the up to 2.5-minute headway between future REM trains. “With the REM, we’re going to have up to 10 (two car) trains down there so it was required to build another shaft,” Pelletier said. From the mezzanine level we walk down a temporary set of construction stairs to, finally, the REM train level itself. This is the original more than 100-year-old commuter train tunnel, where for decades Montrealers commuted from northern suburbs into downtown on conventional trains. REM work crews took three months to rip up those tracks and now the surface is muddy prior to the eventual installation of a new drainage system, tunnel divider, tracks and signals. While excavations have widened the tunnel for 80 metre pedestrian platforms, the original rounded tunnel roof can still be seen. Meanwhile several cement mixer trucks are lined up at intervals undertaking spot pours. Mixer trucks in a tunnel? About 1.5 kilometres north, at the existing Canora commuter train station, which is also being converted for the REM, there’s a ramp that allows trucks to enter the tunnel. But trucks often stay in the tunnel, loaded from above, and move back and forth for the spot work. The $6.5 billion REM, Montreal’s biggest transit project in 50 years, is being financed in part by the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ), its operator and principal owner through CDPQ Infra. Other major funders are the Quebec and Canadian governments. Engineering and construction is being carried out by Groupe NouvLR which includes SNC-Lavalin, Dragados Canada Inc., Groupe Aecon Quebec Ltee, Pomerleau Inc., EBC Inc.

Heheheheh ok là. 16 étages?

Merci. 😊

Just watched this with my mom a couple weeks ago — her favourite film — two days before she passed. 😊

The whole reason they started the tunnel along Alfred-Nobel before Alexander-Fleming instead of at Chemin St-François as originally planned was in response to the BAPE’s multiple concerns about protecting the wetlands in Hubert-Reeves. 🤦🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

IMO they were aiming for “different,” but it’s a miss. Compared to the super-clean lines of the glass guardrails on 1500 de Maisonneuve Ouest (a bullseye), yeah this ain’t it.

“Welp, there’s yer problem right there…”

Et se concentrer sur les caténaires et les poteaux juste au niveau des aiguillages est un peu fourbe. Much of the area is a sea of ugly, IMO the catenaries don’t particularly stand out. Now, we’ll see what they’re like in the West Island, but again, compared to the old ones? Compared to all the overhead utility lines and crooked wooden poles on every street in the city? Nobody will notice.

Keep ‘em coming! Ce sont ces visions (et les débats qu'elles provoquent) qui manquent à ce forum depuis un moment! 😉👍🏼

I dunno. I took the SdC today, and sooooo much else in PSC, IdS and along the 10 is sofa king ugly that honestly, the catenary system didn’t particularly stand out. The posts are too massive and industrial, and way too tall. They appear to all be cut at different (random) heights, too. The LED lamps on the catenary posts near Panama station were all illuminated at 11:00 am and now I’m hoping that all the posts get lamps.

The lowest section along de Bleury, with the pool on top… looks to be topping at this level or just one more? Soon either way. The west tower will start to take off.

😂