MUHC hospital access clarified
The Monitor isn’t a source I often link, but they have the story about the MUHC explaining plans for access to the new hospital from Vendome metro station. It took pressure from Projet’s Peter McQueen to ensure that patients and visitors wouldn’t have to trail across an open parking lot to get to the hospital from the metro platform – a concern that the MUHC left hanging uncertainly for years.
Joey 09:36 on 2012/10/24 Permalink
The Monitor story refers to an interview granted to… the Examiner.
Kate 09:41 on 2012/10/24 Permalink
The Westmount Examiner also has the story – this is from Transcontinental’s network of community papers. I happened on a link to the Monitor story first, my apologies.
David Tighe 15:09 on 2012/10/24 Permalink
The story says:
“According to MUHC spokesperson Julie Paquet, a pedestrian tunnel which will link the metro to the hospital’s underground parking lot has been built. The only remaining task is to link the existing tunnel with the new one, a project that will be completed around the same time as the new hospital opens to the public in 2013.
What new tunnel are they talking about? Does anyone know? Is the existing tunnel that one which passes under the tracks? It will present quite a challenge to anyone not very mobile. Rather weird that one can build a billion dollar plus facility without maximizing accessibility. In fact, even apparently treating accessibilty as an afterthought.
dwgs 15:37 on 2012/10/24 Permalink
A billion dollar plus facility meant for people who just might have some mobility issues. Also, traffic in NDG is already messed up like I haven’t seen it in the thirteen years I’ve lived there. It takes up to 15 minutes to drive along Sherbrooke from Wilson to Decarie, something that should take about 30 seconds. And they still don’t have a clear idea of what traffic flow will be once the hospital opens.
Faiz Imam 16:41 on 2012/10/24 Permalink
@david:
The original plan was to have a tunnel go to the edge of the parking lot, which then required walking through the lot to the building.
In response to criticism, a new tunnel will be built below/above/around the underground parking lot directly to the hospital itself, and will link up with the existing tunnel and the metro.
Faiz Imam 16:44 on 2012/10/24 Permalink
The thing I want to know is if the tunnel will have a airport style conveyor, it would be really helpful given the non-trivial distance from the metro to the main building.
Chris 18:53 on 2012/10/24 Permalink
Further evidence that the car is king. :(
Kate 19:54 on 2012/10/24 Permalink
Vendome needs to have elevators so that someone in a wheelchair, or otherwise generally not mobile, can get from the metro platform up to the hospital door with the least possible difficulty. I don’t see any mention of that, though.
Stefan 02:54 on 2012/10/25 Permalink
Michel Labrecque estimates that by 2034 all metro stations should be wheelchair accessible. But is there actually a plan? (and which stations to prioritize, like Vendome?)
Kate 07:51 on 2012/10/25 Permalink
I don’t know, but they’re working on Champ-de-Mars station expecting it to become busier when the CHUM opens. I would hope common sense has made them realize the two stations connected to major new hospitals need to be priority for elevators, even if they happen to be among the shallower stations in the network. After all, a couple of steps can make a place inaccessible to people in wheelchairs.
Faiz Imam: Can you believe that original plan, to have patients and visitors dumped at the edge of a parking lot – especially in wintertime? – and have to slog across it to the front door? Hasn’t anyone ever tried to shop at someplace like Mountain Equipment Co-op without a car, in the Marché central, where everything is positioned only for automobile access and getting around on foot is actually hazardous because people are pulling into and out of parking spaces and not really looking? Merlin’s pants!!
Faiz Imam 14:46 on 2012/10/25 Permalink
Given that it’s linking to the underground parking lot and presumable underground entrance to the hospital, the tunnel may be horizontal from the platform, with little or no vertical change. And the distance means a slight incline may be enough to bridge any gap. That plus a moving walkway should make for a pretty good system.
Faiz Imam 14:49 on 2012/10/25 Permalink
Whoa, turns out Beaudry metro has a similar system,Very cool!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Moving_sidewalk.jpg
Kate 20:28 on 2012/10/25 Permalink
Faiz Imam, you’ve never seen it? It’s the only one in the whole metro system and pretty cool. But it doesn’t roll straight up off the platform – there are also stairs.