autoroute 10 Autoroute 10 (Bonaventure - portion au nord du canal (boul. urbain))

[gelu88]

Definitely... the price has consistently been increasing and the traffic likewise... and inflation comes up on the other side as well. This also ignores alternative energy developments that could reduce the variable cost of operation significantly (e.g. Volt, Leaf and the simple natural gas...), the past is by far the best predictor of the future. The most annoying phenomenon particularly in Montreal is consistently increasing taxation of motor fuels, but that is an artificial problem.

 

The oil market has always been very volatile due to non-competitive pressures (OPEC) and the "finite, non-renewable" concept of petroleum, but of course there is no shortage of oil nor will there be in the forseeable future, so you end up with these long-term semi-stable price punctuated by massive spikes and just as massive crashes (like the 2003-2008 going up to 147$/bbl and crashing to 35$ shortly thereafter, just as in the 1979-1986 era).

 

There are also many inexpensive ways to power a vehicle, you could even do like they did in the Second World War and run your car on carbon monoxide made from wood, coal, garbage etc in a generator trailer (or perhaps installed in the back of a pick-up). Not user-friendly like gasoline, or as powerful, but very cheap!

 

Or move that process upwards and make synthetic fuels, particularly with the new "shale gas" technology, the natural gas market of the world and particularly North America is heavily oversupplied. One of the biggest CO2 emissions of man is actually wasted "flare" natural gas that is in areas not accessible for pipelines (e.g. Middle East, Nigeria). It is simple to produce very high quality gasolines from natural gas (GTL process), if oil prices rise for a long time, "free" flare gas and inexpensive shale gas will start to be converted to marketable petroleum liquid products (and of course the obvious and already existing CNG and LNG powered automobiles, common all around Europe and utility companies in N.America)...

 

None of your points are wrong, but its a question of scale. We have tens of trillions of dollars of ICE infrastructure around the world and last time i checked we were in a bit of a capital shortage situation.

 

While hydrogen and electric cars are a fine idea, they cannot scale up to replace ICE vehicles as fast as we need.

 

Same thing with alternate fossil fuels, be it used french fry oil or corn or algae, its fine in small quantities. There is simply no way it can be scaled up to replace the massive 80 mb/d we currently use.

 

 

 

but of course there is no shortage of oil nor will there be in the forseeable future, so you end up with these long-term semi-stable price punctuated by massive spikes and just as massive crashes (like the 2003-2008 going up to 147$/bbl and crashing to 35$ shortly thereafter, just as in the 1979-1986 era)

Although you are right that in absolute terms, we will never run out of oil, projected demand is set to permanently overshadow supply in the next decade at best(the worst case suggests that oil price will skyrocket the moment this recession end because we don't have enough reserve).

 

And you should not be so casual about those "spikes", the one in 2008 is partially responsible for the biggest recession since the depression...

 

That's why this whole discussion around infrastructure is important, we have to "decouple" oil price from our economic development, which includes transportation. otherwise we are at the mercy of our supply, which will not support our level of demand for long.

[IshmaelJones]

article link

 

Public spaces II - Bulldozing the Bonaventure

By Alan Hustak on July 22, 2010

 

The plans to bulldoze the Bonaventure expressway and replace it with a ground level boulevard, for example, have gone back to the drawing board. The Office de consultation publique de montréal was right to doubt the wisdom of the entire $260-million redevelopment scheme initially proposed by the Societe du Havre de Montreal, and to recommend a second look at the whole idea.

 

The people at City Hall responsible for the ambitious project might learn a thing or two from Boston’s experience.

 

Boston, like Montreal, decided to remove 2.4 km of an old elevated freeway and turn it into public parkland. The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway was dedicated in 2004 but because of delays and cost over-runs it wasn’t completed until 2008. Since it opened its landscaped parks, plaza’s and promenades have remained underutilized by the public, and once promising projects designed to bring it to life, have been abandoned.

 

Autoroute_Bonaventure.jpgGet it wrong, like they did in Boston, and Montreal will end up with a no-man’s land that wrenches neighbourhoods apart instead of an attractive pedestrian-friendly streetscape designed to stitch them together. Unlike, Boston however, planners in Montreal still have to work around the elevated train tracks and, as well, will have to contend with the Dalhousie rapid transportation corridor. “Given the presence of the train tracks, and given the little quality of land on either side of the highway or on the boulevard that would replace it, it is not easy to create an interesting, well used environment,” notes Raphael Fischler, Director of the McGill Engineering School of Urban Planning. ”There is no way we can restore G riffintown to its earlier 20th century morphology. We have to see how we can improve the situation while keeping the elevated highway in place, or create a real urban boulevard flanked by a more modest amount of development that initially proposed.”

 

According to Mayor Gerald Tremblay, the city needs to tear down the expressway because (a) it’s an eyesore, and (b) it would cost taxpayers $60-million to repair, and © demolishing it opens up $600-million worth of real estate that would enhance the value of the property in the Quartier International.

 

The section of the Bonaventure that will come down divides two neighbourhoods - the old Faubourg Recollects, which was once a rundown industrial area to the east, and Griffintown, a dilapidated area to the west. Stilil, one has to question the wisdom of tearing up what was once a expressway and turning its eight lanes into a highway and a strip of high rise condos No one appears to be taking into account the rapid transit or railway infrastructure in the immediate area. Has anyone bothered to ask whether private developers have any interest in the land that borders the expressway property. If the Bonaventure must be developed, and that’s an important if, creativity is required. It would be short sighted to force-feed super-sized apartment blocks and run transit buses along a series of oversized , shapless spaces that no one would want to visit. As Jane Jacobs so often told us, people are what make a public space great. A sense of scale is essential. The area could be, with some difficulty, converted into a series of small, tight-knit communities of elegant mews or écuries like the Washington Mews in New York`s Greenwich Village. Add to the mix infill low rental housing, low rise apartment blocks four to eight stories and mixed use development intertwined with a new public market and cultural facilities all of which could provide rental income for the city and at the same time add density and a new vibrancy to the city below the city.

 

The last thing Montreal needs is an unattractive serpentine corridor at ground level that merely duplicates the footprint of the elevated concrete artery that it plans to demolish.

[Cataclaw]

Blah blah blah NIMBY bullshit blah blah blah

 

The last thing Montreal needs is an unattractive serpentine corridor at ground level that merely duplicates the footprint of the elevated concrete artery that it plans to demolish.

 

What an idiotic article.

 

Wow. Just wow.

[Cyrus]

Restore Griffintown to previous 20th century condition? So instead of abandoned derelict buildings we can have inhabited derelict slums, FAIL

 

The big problem with the redevelopment is that its a crappy area and the highway is not really the crappy factor... you still have the train tracks, the "Five Roses" thing...

 

Boston Big Dig replaced the elevated Artery with a subterranean freeway of improved capacity somewhat like the Ville-Marie is but order of magnitude more expensive and poorly made, and delayed (example the poor woman who died when a concrete panel crushed her and her car...) The Greenway is pretty much a failure because it can't really attract anyone to go there, "Square Viger" syndrome... should have put up a parking lot instead, or perhaps a small collector road with parking lanes and nice landscaping somewhat like what is in place.

Modifié 23 juillet 2010 par Cyrus

[gelu88]

The greenway is what happens when people dont know what they want, everyone likes "green space" so they planted some trees and grass and called it a day.

 

a bit of vegetation does not make a park, it really should have been sold as buildable land, that way it could heal and bring together two neighborhoods that had been torn apart for decades by building structures that integrate with the urban fabric

[Cataclaw]

The land freed up by the Big Dig should have been used for high-density development. Perhaps one park, maybe two, but not 100% of the land...

 

I agree with gelu88. Restoring the urban fabric with development would have been the smarter choice.

[monctezuma]

 

Public spaces II - Bulldozing the Bonaventure

By Alan Hustak on July 22, 2010

 

Ben on fait quoi alors ? Statut quo ? On change rien ? On laisse ça tel quel, mais on le répare ?

 

C'est quoi ta solution IshmaelJones ? C'est quoi la solution des anti-projet-du-havre ?

 

J'aimerais bien la connaître pour voir si elle est meilleure que l'actuelle car je n'ai aucune idée de ce qui est proposé par le camp adverse.

[Cataclaw]

Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything

 

Or in this case, Change Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything.

 

That's all this is, really. People with a poor grasp of the issue creating a ruckus because they don't like change in their lives in any way shape or form, even if the change is unquestionably positive.

[nerdboy]

Ben on fait quoi alors ? Statut quo ? On change rien ? On laisse ça tel quel, mais on le répare ?

 

 

• Demolir l'autoroute
  
• Conserver la portion entre William et (juste avant) Wellington
  
• Construire le fameux SLR dans l'axe de l'autoroute
  
• Construire la Gare Multimedia SUR cette portion d'autoroute
  
• Utiliser des coquilles d'autobus Rive-Sud comme abris
  
• Restaurer le Haymarket Square entre William et St-Paul
  
• Extension possible de Duke et Nazareth pour traverser le canal et rejoindre Mill
  
• Amenager Duke et Nazareth comme RUES (et non boulevards) urbaines
  
• Projet immobilier signature sur Wellington entre Duke et Nazareth
  
• etc.
  

 

See also Alternatives to the Dalhousie Corridor (griffintown.org)

 

Et le plan du Comite pour le sain redeveloppement de Griffintown pour le quartier.

 

The SLR (light rail) has been the real long-term solution for decades. While many will throw their hands up and say that there's no money, it can't cross a bridge or it's a silly idea, consider the following:

• an SLR link to the base of the Victoria or Champlain bridge is enough to let the buses transfer their passengers earlier without having to fight through an urban environment
  
• the infamous airport train could be headed for Bonaventure, and it has better chances of actually being funded. The SLR and airport train could share some right of way, infrastructure and rolling stock, saving costs.
  
• Bonaventure is a pendulum highway, and has been redundant since the completion of Ville-Marie. An SLR can render it obsolete!
  

 

Imagine chaque jour descendre de ton SLR et marcher sur l'autoroute ou t'etais toujours pogne dans le traffic :

 

[Cyrus]

Imagine chaque jour descendre de ton SLR et marcher sur l'autoroute ou t'etais toujours pogne dans le traffic :

 

 

Etre pogne dans le trafic reste beaucoup plus rapide que de marcher!