Skip to main content

Montreal boost infrastructure spending for 2016

The Canadian city of Montreal will invest a record US$408 million on infrastructure improvements this year, around half to spent on road upgrades and the other half on water projects. One of the city’s executive committee members, Lionel Perez, said much is being done to mitigate problems for drivers and cyclists during prolonged construction periods, according to a report in the Montreal Gazette newspaper. Perez said drivers on rue St-Denis, a main shopping street, can now use bluetooth technology to
April 8, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
The Canadian city of Montreal will invest a record US$408 million on infrastructure improvements this year, around half to spent on road upgrades and the other half on water projects.

One of the city’s executive committee members, Lionel Perez, said much is being done to mitigate problems for drivers and cyclists during prolonged construction periods, according to a report in the Montreal Gazette newspaper.

Perez said drivers on rue St-Denis, a main shopping street, can now use bluetooth technology to monitor traffic in real time because it communicates information to drivers by notification on message boards.

Cyclists and pedestrians have long complained that the city does not do enough to ensure their safety around construction zones, according to Daniel Lambert, a spokesperson for the Montreal Bike Coalition and Association of Pedestrians and Cyclists of Westmount.

However, he said Montreal is improving its track record. The city is looking at requiring contractors to erect temporary concrete barriers to ensure pedestrians are not forced to walk into traffic when sidewalks are closed for maintenance.

Related Content

  • Eurasphalt & Eurobitume 2016 Congress calls for better communication
    August 5, 2016
    The bitumen industry needs to learn how to communicate with road owners, road users, and communities. This was one of the underlying themes to emerge from the Eurasphalt & Eurobitume 2016 Congress, held in the Czech capital Prague in June. Kristina Smith was there.
  • The US FAST Act: a job left unfinished
    April 4, 2016
    US roads and bridges are crumbling at an alarming rate as state governments wring their hands over the increasingly scarce money for repairs. Enter the FAST Act. But is it enough? US state transportation department officials, as well as highway contractors and operators, breathed a sigh of relief in December. For months the highways infrastructure sector waited anxiously to see where the necessary money for road projects would come from. For several years, the Highways Trust Fund – the usual way of paying f
  • Construction sector's quiet revolution for digital worksites
    February 8, 2017
    The digital worksite topped the agenda at this year’s CECE congress. David Arminas reports from the Czech capital Prague* Europe’s equipment manufacturers and their clients are truly in an age of transformation driven by an increasing move towards the digital worksite. Because this transformation is so deep, there looms big challenges for the entire sector and its supply chain, noted Bernd Holz, president of the CECE – Committee for European Construction Equipment, Europe’s umbrella organisation for
  • Reality check: Topcon’s Aptix
    July 20, 2023
    The biggest challenge facing construction professionals and general contractors is disconnected data and/or siloed data sources. The recently launched Aptix integration platform has broken down these silos, explains Topcon’s Scott Langbein.