{"id":13063,"date":"2012-01-26T21:18:21","date_gmt":"2012-01-27T02:18:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingmontreal.ca\/?p=13063"},"modified":"2013-01-21T12:02:01","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T17:02:01","slug":"mind-the-marsh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2012\/01\/26\/mind-the-marsh\/","title":{"rendered":"Mind the Marsh (Or how the CN-MTQ dispute may alter the future of the Turcot Interchange)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The buried Otter Lake occupied a good deal of the present-day Turcot Yards (courtesy of Walking Turcot Yards<\/a>)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The Ministry of Transport has hit a major snag in its plans to replace the crumbling Turcot Interchange.<\/p>\n

Last week, le Soleil reported that \u201chigh level\u201d negotiations between the Ministry of Transport and CN would be required<\/a>, with ex-premier Daniel Johnson at the helm. The sticky issues include a CN bridge used by motorists in Quebec City, and the MTQ\u2019s plans for the rail company’s right-of-way at Dorval Circle and the Turcot yards. Though this certainly means delays in the Turcot project (more on that below), there are also various critics of the government\u2019s plan already seeing the silver lining.<\/p>\n

For the Conseil r\u00e9gional de l\u2019environnement (CRE), this presents an opportunity to divert funds away from the unnecessary shifting of highway 20<\/a> against the St-Jacques Escarpment and funnel it into much needed transit. Projet Montr\u00e9al leader, Richard Bergeron, has expressed his exasperation at the MTQ\u2019s inability to manage its own highway projects, and gleefully advised the Ministry to enjoy its final two years dealing with the compliant Tremblay administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But what\u2019s the substance of\u00a0these “high level” negotiations?<\/p>\n

Since the dispute is with a private company, details are confidential; however, it may be possible to deduce the source of the conflict. One clue is the apparent ambiguity over who will ultimately be responsible for stabilizing the soil of the ancient Otter Lake. This is necessary in order to relocate CN\u2019s right-of-way against the foot of the escarpment, as detailed by the current plan<\/a>. Will it be the Ministry itself or one of its contractors working in the \u201cdesign-build\u201d mode?<\/p>\n

In a document released by the ministry<\/a>, the job of stabilizing the marshy part of the Turcot yards is listed as \u201csuspended\u201d. This may mean that the Ministry has encountered technical problems and is shifting the responsibility to its contractors. \u00a0While this does not formally concern CN, it could affect their property; the company would naturally be anxious to see the future of their main trunk line on unstable ground\u2014both literally and figuratively\u00a0speaking.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The MTQ’s plan for the Turcot Yards: Four CN tracks (two primary, two secondary) are indicated blue and orange under ‘Pullman’\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

If the Ministry is shifting responsibility to its contractor, their projected timeline will need to be revised. Since the project management firm charged with divvying out contracts will first be announced this summer, bids for this specific contract could only be received and evaluated late 2012 to early 2013,\u00a0at the earliest. The winning bidder(s) could very well take two years to complete the work, ending in 2015. (Excavating this marsh to install high capacity drainage is a big, expensive job, after all.) Recalling that moving the CN line is only preparatory work for the actual interchange replacement, the MTQ\u2019s 2018 completion date is looking very optimistic indeed.<\/p>\n

Of course, this whole mess could be avoided (and about $400M saved) by NOT shifting Hwy 20 against the escarpment and leaving CN\u2019s right-of-way in its current path. \u00a0While the MTQ asserts that the eventual location of the CN tracks is fixed, most probably there is\u2014like much in this troubled Ministry\u2014more to this than meets the eye.<\/p>\n

Full disclosure: The author is currently working with the community group, Solidarit\u00e9 St-Henri, to advocate for changes to the Ministry\u2019s plan for the Turcot.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The buried Otter Lake occupied a good deal of the present-day Turcot Yards (courtesy of Walking Turcot Yards)\u00a0 The Ministry of Transport has hit a major snag in its plans to replace the crumbling Turcot Interchange. Last week, le Soleil reported that \u201chigh level\u201d negotiations between the Ministry of Transport and CN would be required,Continue reading “Mind the Marsh (Or how the CN-MTQ dispute may alter the future of the Turcot Interchange)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5006,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7835,213,7839,7840,102,7842],"tags":[91,110,10,64,1084,5,139,6981,59,28,120,63],"class_list":["post-13063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-green-space","category-infrastructure","category-neighbourhoods","category-politics","category-spacing","category-urban-design","tag-bridges-and-spans","tag-cote-st-paul","tag-environment","tag-ndg","tag-otter-lake","tag-planning","tag-politics-la-politique","tag-pullman","tag-st-henri","tag-spacing-montreal","tag-turcot-interchange","tag-westmount"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMind the Marsh (Or how the CN-MTQ dispute may alter the future of the Turcot Interchange) - Spacing Montreal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2012\/01\/26\/mind-the-marsh\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mind the Marsh (Or how the CN-MTQ dispute may alter the future of the Turcot Interchange) - Spacing Montreal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The buried Otter Lake occupied a good deal of the present-day Turcot Yards (courtesy of Walking Turcot Yards)\u00a0 The Ministry of Transport has hit a major snag in its plans to replace the crumbling Turcot Interchange. 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