Critics question pedestrian access to MUHC superhospital

CTV.ca, September 28 2011 -- Montrealers who live near the Glen Yards are demanding the MUHC amend its plan for access to the superhospital. But the MUHC says not only are plans for pedestrian access already included, they are trying to make them better. At an information session Tuesday evening critics called for a pedestrian tunnel linking Vendome metro to the medical campus, and a pedestrian bridge over the railway tracks that parallel De Maisonneuve Blvd.

Ding dong, the wicked piling’s done at the MUHC site

The Free Press, September 27 2011 -- The headache-inducing, backyard-barbecue-cancelling, sleep-depriving, piledriving project at the McGill University Health Centre’s (MUHC) Glen Campus has finally come to an end after nearly a year of pounding cement-filled, stilt-like tubes into the unstable earth. REad more: See page 6.

Residents, McQueen take aim at dangerous intersection

The Free Press, September 27th 2011 -- With the sewer work finally completed under Decarie Blvd. and the nighttime train bridge reconstruction slated to get under way soon, residents and a city councillor have taken aim at Montreal’s failure to improve a constructionplagued, three-street intersection in eastern NDG. Read More: See front page.

Start-up group promotes cycle and pedestrian safety

The Free Press, September 27-28 2011 -- [...] The incoming McGill University Health Centre, she continued, will take a lot of the group’s attention as members encourage planners to incorporate more bike-friendly features into the hospital’s extensive campus. Along with the bike bridge, Michie said the hope is that, as millions of dollars are pumped into car parking, there will be adequate space for bikes. [...] Read more on page 12.

Ikeman stands up for District 5 residents complaining about construction noise

Westmount Independent, September 27-28 2011 -- Councillor Gary Ikeman, representing District 5, defends Sara Meland and other Westmount residents who have been waking up to the beeping sounds of reversing trucks on the McGill University Health Centre’s construction site. During a public meeting on September 22 at the MUHC building on de Maisonneuve Blvd., Ikeman told Montreal officials and an SNC Lavalin representative that the situation was unacceptable. “The beeping is going to put me in the hospital if it ever gets built,” said Meland. A Montreal police officer, Mina Lévesque, recommended that residents dealing with construction noise before 7 am call 911 to complain. (see p.9)

Will insurance cover MUHC megahospital’s private rooms?

Openfile, September 25th 2011 -- The McGill University Health Centre calls it the “ideal room” for recovering hospital patients: one person only, private bathroom, a nice sitting area and natural light. But the MUHC’s announcement that each and every room in the new megahospital will be single-patient only has prompted fears that it will exclude patients whose insurance doesn’t cover private rooms. Yves Millette of the Canadian Health and Life Insurance Association says those fears are unfounded.

Users of busy Decarie/de Maisonneuve intersection vent frustration

CTV.ca, September 23rd 2011 -- People who need to use the busy, five-pronged intersection of Decarie Blvd., Upper Lachine Rd. and de Maisonneuve Blvd. got a chance to vent their frustration Thursday evening over the danger involved, whether it's in a car or on foot. The nearby construction of the McGill University Hospital Centre's (MUHC) new super hospital has made an already complex intersection even more daunting. "It doesn't feel safe at all," one pedestrian said Thursday evening. A meeting of the Good Neighbourly Relations Committee organized by the MUHC and the city featured a lot of complaints about the intersection coming from both motorists and pedestrians. "It's pathetic," said Projet Montréal city councillor Peter McQueen. "It's eight seconds for pedestrians to cross Decarie Boulevard and, with no warning, it goes from full walk man to green for the cars."

Voie de détour pour 85 trains: une entente imminente

Cyberpresse.ca, 22 septembre 2011 -- Montréal et le Canadien Pacifique (CP) sont sur le point de s'entendre sur une méthode d'intervention pour dévier 85 trains par jour sur une voie de détour en attendant la reconstruction d'un viaduc ferroviaire, au-dessus du chemin Upper Lachine, dans l'ouest de la ville. Cet encombrant chantier, prévu pour durer jusqu'à l'automne 2012, rend la vie impossible à des milliers d'automobilistes et de piétons depuis le printemps dernier. Il entrave même la circulation des autobus de la Société de transport de Montréal aux abords de la station de métro Vendôme, une des plus importantes dans l'arrondissement Côte-des-Neiges/Notre-Dâme-de-Grâce.

Gridlock: Invasion of the cones

The Gazette, September 15th 2011 -- They have been on the shoulder of the Ville Marie Expressway most of the summer. There’s a maze of them in front of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport in Dorval. They’re strewn all over the construction site of the MUHC superhospital. With record road construction and several emergency bridge and overpass repairs in Montreal this year, there have never been more T-RV-7s, more commonly known as construction cones, gracing our roads and sidewalks.

Montréal investit des sommes records dans son PTI 2012-2014

Progrès Saint-Léonard, 15 septembre 2011 -- L’administration Tremblay-Applebaum a déposé ce matin son Programme triennal d’immobilisations (PTI) 2012-2014. Une nouvelle façon de faire, puisqu’auparavant il était déposé en même temps que le budget de fonctionnement, pour optimiser la planification de l’ensemble des travaux à venir.

Emergency services evolve at MUHC campus

The Gazette, September 6th 2011 -- Responding to an emergency is difficult at the best of times. Montreal’s firefighters and other emergency responders need to know the city’s streets and buildings inside out in order to ensure that not a second is wasted when someone calls 911. But what if one area of the city were constantly changing, shifting and becoming more complex? That is the challenge faced by emergency services at the Glen Campus construction site. Every week, new pathways are formed, new floors added, and new hallways built – and on top of this, there’s the prospect of someone getting injured high above the ground or being pinned beneath a large piece of equipment.

St-Jacques reopening doesn't solve all merchants' woes

CTV.ca, September 3 2011 -- A gateway to the west end was reopened Friday morning but the construction work that closed the St-Jacques exit from Highway 20 West is still jackhammering bottom lines. Several businesses near Decarie and Upper Lachine remain difficult to access due to the ongoing construction at the MUHC superhospital. They include the Kosa Arts Centre, which was built on the site of a former daycare on Crowley in 2009. Nick Patulli's centre has offered top-flight conference and stage facilities since it opened in 2009 but its location in the midst of the dust, closed roads and trucks hasn't led people to stream to its doors.

Réouverture de la sortie Saint-Jacques Ouest

Cyberpresse.ca, 1 septembre 2011 -- Enfin une bonne nouvelle pour les automobilistes qui empruntent l'autoroute Ville-Marie vers l'ouest. À partir du 2 septembre, la sortie Saint-Jacques sera rouverte à la circulation. La sortie était fermée depuis sept mois et devait être rouverte au printemps. Les travaux effectués à l'intersection des rues Saint-Jacques et Décarie ont donc pris quelques semaines de retard. La réfection des conduites d'aqueduc était nécessaire à la construction du Centre universitaire de santé McGill.

Des soins à visage humain: L'oxygénation du réseau de la santé passe aussi par une revalorisation des hôpitaux de proximité

Le Devoir.com, 27 août 2011 -- À l'heure où Montréal cherche à décloisonner l'accès aux soins, force est d'admettre que la solution ne viendra pas des deux futurs mégahôpitaux, mais plutôt de la capacité du réseau à prendre le relais des soins de base. Une mutation incarnée entre autres par l'Hôpital de Verdun, véritable ovni dans le paysage montréalais.

MUHC: Life-saving treatment isolated on third floor

The Gazette, August 23rd 2011 -- As autumn descends on the Glen Campus construction site, crews will be climbing higher and higher, adding more floors to the now-visible building foundations. While the new mega-hospital's lower levels will be important for patient care (they will house the emergency departments, among other things), it's the third floor where much of the life-saving treatment will take place.

MUHC: Tubes aid in logistics Pneumatic network for small objects

The Gazette, August 16th 2011 -- When the planning teams at the McGill University Health Centre started sketching out the new mega-facility on the Glen campus, they quickly realized its enormous scale was going to present a number of challenges. Chief among them was transportation. Even if an employee were only carrying one small object and sprinting at top speed, it would take several minutes to cross from one end of the Glen to the other - and the person would probably arrive needing medical assistance of their own.

It has a finger in every pie Big construction; Can government afford to act?

The Gazette, August 6th 2011 -- In the 1970s, Lalonde, Valois, Lamarre, Valois et associés - later known as SNC-Lavalin - built the Ville Marie Expressway. In 2008, SNC-Lavalin inspected the expressway for the government, sounding the alarm on its "critical" state. The company then became part of the consortium that drew up the plans to fix the Ville Marie, and supervise the work that had begun when the ceiling collapsed last Sunday.

It's as quiet as a hospital zone around the Glen Campus: Construction hiatus means 13 more days of relative tranquillity

The Gazette, August 9th 2011 -- People living in the neighbourhoods surrounding the Glen Campus construction site can look forward to another 13 days of relative calm as crews take a break for the annual construction holiday. The hiatus began on Monday, with all building crews and subcontractors abandoning the site until Aug. 8.

Construction of superhospital inches forward

CTV.ca, July 28th 2011 -- The upcoming MUHC superhospital is on schedule and on budget one year into a five-year construction plan, according to builders. But there are many years intensive construction ahead before the hospital launches in early 2015.

Work continues on Montreal’s highways

The Gazette, July 22nd 2011 -- Highway-repair work in the Montreal region isn’t letting up – despite the peak holiday period. Motorists were warned Friday to brace for more detours, regardless of this weekend’s start of the two-week construction holiday for the building trades. A variety of access ramps will be shut, at off-peak hours, in and around the Turcot Interchange. Also included in a five-page list of closings issued by Transport Quebec – and available on its website – is overnight work planned late Sunday into Monday on ramps connecting Highway 40 east with Highway 15 south, and 15 south with 40 west.

Glen Campus tendering process guarantees latest technology

The Gazette, August 9th 2011 -- The McGill University Health Centre has started the tendering process for some of the biggest pieces of equipment to be installed on the Glen Campus. Over the next several months, companies will submit proposals to supply everything from linear accelerators to refrigerators for the new mega-hospital, to open in the fall of 2014. "There are quite a few tenders already out there," said Imma Franco, associate director of programs and services planning for the MUHC.

Even the trains move for the MUHC superhospital

CTV.ca, July 15th 2011 -- The train overpass near the intersection of Decarie and de Maisonneuve Blvds. needs to be rebuilt and extended, but before that can take place a temporary railway detour needs to be built. Construction on the replacement bridge begins Monday July 18. "Before we re-construct the railway bridge, we have to build a deviation - a sort of a bypass - so the train, the commuter train could go on this bypass," said Alain Trudeau, project manager with the city of Montreal. "When this will be built, we will start the demolition of the existing bridge."

Transport Quebec needs to make changes: ex-traffic reporter

The Gazette, July 14th 2011 -- Transport Quebec must revamp how it communicates so motorists aren’t left in the dark again the way they were this week over the Ville Marie Expressway tunnel, says a member of a new roadwork coordination committee. The department must create a “customer-service culture and show people we know they are suffering,” said former radio traffic reporter Rick Leckner, appointed to the committee last week.

Improved air system will filter out bugs, keep contagious patients isolated

The Gazette, July 12th 2011 -- [...] The new mega-facility going up on the Glen campus will be light years ahead of Montreal's existing hospitals in terms of environmental control, said Antonin Bouchard, the McGill University Health Centre's associate director of engineering and operations for the Glen.