It won't cost the city much money when it will finally decide to place a few concrete barriers at the corner of Hutchison and Park. Coop members could easily get a visual preview of how it will look by walking over to Jeanne-Mance and Pine.

Mrs. Eloyan, vice-president of the Montreal Executive Commitee, and the member in charge of municipal streets told me in person that it was a "virgule" in the context of the projected demolition of the Pine-Park Interchange. This was in her office in august when she met several of us from the CDEC Plateau Mont-Royal.

Her response is contemptuous: an affront to civility, to residents legitimate concerns and to logic.

The city is talking about 12 million $ to dismantle the interchange. You know, pay for the use of bulldozers, trucks to take away the asphalt, blue collar municipal workers, perhaps dynamite to blow it up section by section. It's a major undertaking.

All we Hutchison street residents want is the installation of three simple barriers costing less than 1000 $. Now!

And what will happen then?

The drivers take Hutchison in the morning because there is one less traffic light between Pine and Sherbrooke than on Park. So she or he can get to work three minutes earlier.

And when the barriers are in place and their Hutchison time saving option is closed. The drivers will have to take park, a commercial street.

And shortly after the Hutchison street calming, there will be a bigger bottleneck on Park as the cars will vie for less space. But, shortly afterwards, a significant proportion of these drivers will change transport mode for their daily commute. Some will take the park bus lane, others the subway and some will bicycle to work.

By Robert Silverman.

© Robert Silverman 2000