May 31st, 2008

1905-2008
Cette résidence de style gothique construite pour Alfred Savage dans les années 1860 se dressait autrefois sur la rue Peel, au sud de l’actuelle avenue du docteur Penfield.
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Permalink for Montage du jour : La résidence de Alfred Savage
Posted by Guillaume St-Jean
Categories Architecture, Avant-Après
May 31st, 2008

View from the top floor of Fashion Plaza on de Gaspé Street. May 24, 2008
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Permalink for Photo du jour: Gaspé reflections
Posted by Christopher DeWolf
Categories Mile End, Photo du jour
May 30th, 2008
Nothing like some good ol’ fashioned bike fear mongering, 1950-styles. I’m surprised the narrators didn’t equate risky bike riding with the Soviets.
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Permalink for Bike safety, circa 1958
Posted by Matthew Blackett
Categories Cycling / Cyclisme, Video
May 30th, 2008

The air’s getting worse and it’s because the number of Montrealers who are driving is growing faster than those who use public transit. Between 2003 and 2006, an additional 50,000 cars were registered on the island of Montreal and 41,000 more cars were travelling into the city from off-island suburbs each day. Not coincidentally, the number of smog days continues to increase, averaging 64 per year between 2003 and 2006.
Although the city is expressing hope that, faced with gas at nearly $1.50 per litre, more and more people will opt for public transit, significant investments are needed in Montreal transit if there is going to be a significant shift in the way people get around. Earlier this week, three major projects were announced.
On Wednesday, the city revealed that work will start on the reconstruction of the Bonaventure Expressway next March. Eventually, the highway will be replaced with a surface-level boulevard lined by mixed-use development. Tuesday saw news that Georges-Vanier metro will be closed for extensive renovations all summer; a shuttle bus connecting Lionel-Groulx, Georges-Vanier and Lucien-L’Allier will run every 10 minutes until the station reopens. (If you ask me, that shuttle ought to operate all year — transit in Little Burgundy is woefully infrequent.) The creation of a bike path crossing Mount Royal was also announced.
For public transit, though, it’s service improvements that really count, and the STM has been gradually ramping up bus and metro service since the beginning of the year. Fagstein has consistently been the greatest source for news on these improvements: earlier this month, he reported on the creation of a new reserved-lane bus route, the 515 Vieux-Montréal/Vieux-Port, that will run along the path of the future Griffintown/Old Port tramway. He also blogged about the increased service on west end bus routes that will start in June, along with changes announced during a recent public consultation in Côte des Neiges.
Today, the big news is that Montreal will be asking for tolls to be implemented on inbound bridge traffic—a de facto congestion charge—in order to better fund public transit. It will also ask off-island suburbs to shell out more money to support transit in Montreal. The tolls would finance the construction of tramways and bike paths, the extension of the metro’s blue line as well as improvements to commuter train service.
It’s a positive step, but tolls are never popular, and there are still plenty of people in Montreal who think like the Nun’s Islanders who recently asked the STM to reduce bus service on the island. Sometimes it’s no wonder the number of cars in Montreal continues to increase — it seems some people still haven’t gotten the message.
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Permalink for Getting around town: recent transport news
Posted by Christopher DeWolf
Categories Bridges and Spans, City Hall / Hôtel de Ville, Cycling / Cyclisme, Headlines / À la une, Little Burgundy / Petite-Bourgogne, Public Transit / Transport en commun, Traffic / Circulation
May 30th, 2008

1895-2008
Cette demeure fut construite en 1887 pour George Hague, le directeur général de la «Merchants bank». En 1920, soit 5 ans après son décès, ses enfants mirent la propriété en vente. Ne trouvant aucun acheteur, ils firent donc démolir la propriété.
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Permalink for Montage du jour : La résidence de George Hague
Posted by Guillaume St-Jean
Categories Architecture, Avant-Après