Determined to concretely improve worksite management in Montreal, to strengthen its coordination role and to help the population facilitate its daily commute, the Ville de Montréal announces the launch of an interactive map that lists, in real time, worksites and obstructions on its territory.
For the first time, thanks to the Info Entraves et Travaux map, residents, shopkeepers and traffic reporters will be able to find out about obstructions and roadworks in real time. This information is automatically generated from all temporary public domain occupation permits issued by the city's boroughs. Citizens will be able to find out, for example, who is responsible for the work, which company is carrying it out, the nature of the work, its expected duration, the area occupied and the impact, including the number of parking spaces affected.
This new interactive tool will facilitate the reporting process and increase the accountability of all contractors on the city's territory. This major step forward is in line with the additional measures required by the Ville de Montréal to limit the impact of work carried out on its territory:
- In 2023, Ville de Montréal increased the size of its Mobility Squad and gave it new powers to limit the installation and removal period for construction sites to 24 hours;
- The Mobility Squad can also demobilize phantom construction sites suspended for no good reason for five days, and force the removal of superfluous signage equipment that needlessly blocks sidewalks and the road network;
- It should also be remembered that close collaboration between the Montreal administration and the office of the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility led to the modification of Volume 5, to allow, where possible, the use of smaller orange cones, better suited to the urban territory.
"Our administration is equipping the City of Montreal with additional, effective tools to better coordinate worksites and communicate them clearly to the public. With the majority of worksites not managed by the Ville de Montréal, we wanted to ensure that all permits granted by the boroughs were automatically centralized. This is a major step forward that will help optimize the work of our teams in the field, while enabling the public to geolocate obstructions and avoid unpleasant surprises," says Émilie Thuillier, who is responsible for infrastructures, buildings and asset maintenance on the executive committee.
This new tool fulfills a commitment made in the Montreal Construction Site Charter to improve communications, and follows on from the Construction Site Summit held on March 30, 2023. A full report on the Sommet sur les chantiers will be presented in the spring, one year after it was held. In the meantime, additional measures will be announced, notably in relation to the identification of construction sites and the amount of fines for non-compliance with municipal bylaws. Some 55,000 permits for temporary occupation of the public domain are issued each year by Montreal boroughs.
