Fagstein » construction http://blog.fagstein.com Can you think of a better name? Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:54:01 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Fagstein’s 2009 Montreal construction map http://blog.fagstein.com/2009/06/27/fagsteins-2009-montreal-construction-map/ http://blog.fagstein.com/2009/06/27/fagsteins-2009-montreal-construction-map/#comments Sat, 27 Jun 2009 08:39:11 +0000 Fagstein http://blog.fagstein.com/?p=6050 Google Map of Montreal construction zones

Google Map of Montreal construction zones

As if underscoring how much spare time I have, I've tinkered over the past few weeks with some data that the city has put out about planned road construction this summer. A copy of the PDF listing the projects is on The Gazette's site. They used it to create a searchable database of the projects, which intern Megan Martin introduced in Friday's paper. My approach (which began before I knew my paper's online department had a similar idea) was to just dump the data into Google Maps and see what kind of overall map emerged. It involved a lot of cutting and pasting and a lot of tweaking, but I just finished it now.


View Montreal construction 2009 in a larger map

A few caveats about the map:

  1. It only lists projects that are planned, not emergency repairs or secret spy operations
  2. It only lists projects that are in the city of Montreal, not those in on-island demerged suburbs
  3. It doesn't list highway projects, which are controlled by the province (the Bonaventure Expressway project is the exception) UPDATE: I've added some highway projects from the MTQ site
  4. It only lists road reconstruction (orange, red) and water main/sewer work (blue) done by the city, not work on buried electrical cables (Hydro-Québec), gas lines (Gaz Métropolitain), cable lines (Videotron), phone lines (Bell) or other things that might require public and private companies tearing up the asphalt
  5. There are no start and end dates listed, and many of these projects are carried over from last year - some might not even get started before the snow starts falling again.

In case you want to play with the data, improve on it, do a mashup or plaster it all over your wall, you can download the KML file here.

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]]> http://blog.fagstein.com/2009/06/27/fagsteins-2009-montreal-construction-map/feed/ 4 Mercier Bridge construction begins (and it’s on Twitter!) http://blog.fagstein.com/2009/06/18/mercier-construction/ http://blog.fagstein.com/2009/06/18/mercier-construction/#comments Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:27:34 +0000 Fagstein http://blog.fagstein.com/?p=5938 Mercier Bridge

Starting next Monday, what's been described as a "first in this country" construction project will be undertaken on the Honoré-Mercier Bridge. It involves 1,300 prefabricated concrete panels which will replace the bridge deck in a way that is designed to minimize traffic disruption.

In other words, they're going to replace a bridge without closing it to traffic.

It's not quite so simple (there will be night work that requires rerouting traffic), but it's still pretty impressive.

The rusted Mercier Bridge is in dire need of replacement

The rusted Mercier Bridge is in dire need of replacement

The first stage starts on Monday, when the ramp for the 138 East (from Châteauguay) is closed and replaced. Traffic will be sent along a side road to the other approach on the 132. The other three ramps on the southern side will be replaced one by one, and then work will begin on the bridge itself.

What's impressive about this operation to me though isn't the construction, but the communications. A (fully bilingual) special WordPress-based website has been setup (complete with RSS feed and question-and-answer forum), and there are Flickr, YouTube and Twitter accounts to make sure everyone is aware of what's going on and can share information easily. Unlike what you see with most marketing campaigns, these tools are used quite effectively.

This YouTube video shows the steps that will be taken over the coming weeks to replace the southern access ramps. It's long, but it's clear.

Kudos.

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]]> http://blog.fagstein.com/2009/06/18/mercier-construction/feed/ 6 Georges-Vanier metro closes for summer http://blog.fagstein.com/2008/05/27/georges-vanier-metro-closes/ http://blog.fagstein.com/2008/05/27/georges-vanier-metro-closes/#comments Tue, 27 May 2008 18:15:46 +0000 Fagstein http://blog.fagstein.com/?p=1812

The Georges-Vanier metro station will be entirely closed this summer (June 2 to Sept.5) as the STM demolishes and reconstructs parts of the station inside and outside (STM !NFO PDF). In its place, a shuttle between Lionel-Groulx and Lucien-L'Allier (or a few blocks from Lucien-L'Allier anyway) will run every 10 minutes from the opening to closing of the metro. Trains will slow down through the station but won't let anyone off there.

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