Giant inflatable tunnel to cover Ste. Catherine St. during roadwork: VIDEO
Giant inflatable tunnel to cover Ste. Catherine St. during roadwork
Posted on 9/22/2016 3:39 PM by Shuyee Lee
Ste. Catherine Street is set to undergo major roadwork in 2018 that'll last four years. Would a huge inflatable tunnel along that street make you want to go downtown while it's under construction? City officials are betting on it.
Picture it: a white, puffy Tempo-like structure with a criss-cross design lining Ste. Catherine Street, protecting buildings from construction dust and pedestrians from the construction - something that will make the construction site less unpleasant, said Montreal executive committee chairman Pierre Desrochers. The city is also planning activities attached to the structure to attract shoppers and restaurant-goers.
"So we'll make it not a chantier so that people can come downtown and have a different atmosphere and will create some activities around this project so that people have an interest in coming downtown and looking at it," said Desrochers.
"We decided to award Kanvar the contract for their proposal, which is really 'Wow,' and bring that wow effect to Ste Catherine St. during the work."
But will it do so when people are going to be saying, 'Wow, we can't find parking and we can't get around the detours?'
"We're going to be working on those issues too. We need to keep the access to Ste Catherine and the downtown core," said Desrochers.
Desrochers said it'll be worth the $3.8-million dollar pricetag.
"Ste Catherine is a very important street business-wise and investing that kind of money to support our businesses that will be impacted by that project is not a lot of money," said Desrochers.
The $95-million dollar project to revamp Ste Catherine St. was supposed to start next spring but unforeseen events delayed that until January 2018. The first phase will cover the stretch between Bleury and Mansfield. The second phase will focus on Phillips Square. The third phase will see the work continue on Ste Catherine Street between Mansfield and Atwater.
The project is supposed to include heated sidewalks. Desrochers said it's 99% certain they will go ahead with it and that they are waiting on final studies on the cost of such a plan, estimated to be around $20-30 million.
The city is also hoping to get the contractor to work on the site 24/7.
http://www.cjad.com/cjad-news-community/2016/09/22/giant-inflatable-tunnel-to-cover-ste-catherine-st-during-roadwork
