Orange cones deposited in the city center for at least 16 years are not an isolated case: Pres On Wednesday, Montreal’s mayor found two other locations in the borough under similar conditions to express his displeasure.
In addition to the access road to the Ville-Marie tunnel via Rue de la Cathédrale1, the Ministère des Transports et de la Mobilité Durable (MDMD) leaves cones at the access ramps located on rue Saint-Antoine and avenue Viger. In these cases, Google Street View has included cones in all images of places archived since its inception in 2007. It is impossible to know whether they existed before.
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Photo by Patrick Sanfacon, The Press
Abandoned cones at the entrance to the Ville-Marie tunnel, rue Saint-Antoine, Wednesday
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Image capture from Google Street View
Sangku at the same place, October 2007…
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Image capture from Google Street View
In June 2009
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Image capture from Google Street View
In August 2011
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Image capture from Google Street View
In June 2012
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Image capture from Google Street View
In July 2014
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Google Street View Image Capture
In June 2015
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Image capture from Google Street View
In August 2016
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Image capture from Google Street View
In August 2017
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Image capture from Google Street View
In August 2019
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Image capture from Google Street View
In October 2020
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Image capture from Google Street View
In October 2021
1/12
Rue Saint-Antoine and Avenue Viger are located on the edge of Old Montreal’s heritage site, listed on Quebec’s Cultural Heritage Register. Urban landscape is strictly controlled within this territory.
Photo by Patrick Sanfacon, The Press
Abandoned cones at the entrance to the Ville-Marie tunnel, Avenue Viger, Wednesday
“The cones are stored on the right-of-way of the highway,” ministry spokesman Louis-André Bertrand said by email. During the “summer”, they are put there to quickly close the tunnel on weeknights. “This allows teams from the ministry to quickly set up to begin their work and control the delivery of beacons more frequently in the field. All entrances to the tunnel have been closed,” he continued. These nights’ mission: to replace some of the 6,000 bulbs that light the tunnel.
“We need to rethink this practice,” says Plante
Asked about the question, the Montreal mayor criticized the way the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility was doing things.
“Obviously a case like this, where cones are left ‘on the case’ is not good practice. We need to reconsider this practice,” he said on the sidelines of a speech. “I agree that they should be removed. […] It may be stored elsewhere and can be sorted quickly. »
Valerie Plante’s administration has held a summit on construction sites – with the ministry and other players in the construction world.
Photo by Marco Campanosi, Press Archives
Valerie Plante, Mayor of Montreal
Everyone wears orange cones. It is the responsibility of all of us to take good care of it and have better coordination. This case shows the relevance of working as a group to revise certain rules. We are discussing with them to revise some rules.
Valerie Plante, Mayor of Montreal
said Glenn Castanheira, president of Montreal Centre-Ville, which represents merchants in downtown Montreal. Pres These two new events are a sign of a greater evil.
“This is clearly not an isolated case,” he said. We face a systemic problem. »
Missing cones
While the ministry promises its cones will only be stored on roadsides during the summer, photos from Google Street View suggest they will be at least from April to November.
On Wednesday, access to the subway via avenue Viger and rue Saint-Antoine was already lined with cones, even if frequent night closures don’t begin until May.
The access cones from Rue de la Cathédrale have disappeared. They were “removed [à cause d’]A long work break,” said Mr. Bertrand said without specifying what work it was.
The Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility has argued that its cones stored on roadsides are not harming anyone. “They don’t lie […] Not in front of a building or business, Louis-Andre Bertrand said. They do not obstruct the flow of road users. »
Does the department want to review its methods? Radio silence from MTMT.
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