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.