Previously, companies had 72 hours to remove signaling equipment from construction sites on the island of Montreal.
“There are sites where it will be feasible, but there are sites where it will be impossible,” says Jean-François Dionne, president of the Quebec Road Safety Workers Association, in an interview with the program “Tout un matin”. straight to the point ICI premiere.
This is mainly because some job sites require more signage than simple orange cones, such as B. Concrete walls that are more difficult to move.
Take the Tour of the Island of Montreal for example, installation takes a week, explains Mr. Dionne.
In addition to the problems presented by more complex job sites, the construction industry faces unique circumstances, including labor shortages and traffic jams that regularly block Montreal’s streets and slow work.
“Montreal could have taken the time to think…start at 72 hours and go down to 50 hours. »
– A quote from Jean-François Dionne, President of the Association of Road Safety Workers of Quebec
But the city has already said it will listen to what’s happening on the ground and that it may need to change certain regulations, according to Émilie Thuillier, infrastructure manager at the Montreal City Committee.
A quarter of the signage is redundant in Montreal
This measure is part of the City of Montreal’s strategy to combat ghost construction and redundant signs, announced last March.
Between April 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022, 94% of downtown streets were partially or fully closed, according to a study released in January by the Montreal Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.
In total, no fewer than 5,521 permits for the temporary occupation of public land were granted by the Municipality of Ville-Marie this year. The study also found that nearly all of these applications were approved by the city, at 96.4%.
Also, a census taken in September 2022 in a particular city center square found that 27% of orange cones, signs and other signs had no reason to be on the road.
Various measures on provincial construction sites
It should be noted that this measure does not affect construction sites on provincial infrastructure, such as the highways that cross the island of Montreal, only those managed by the city.
Last April, Quebec Minister of Transport Geneviève Guilbault also presented various measures to reduce the impact of roadworks on the city network.
In particular, the current orange cones are set to be replaced this month by other, more compact models that are better suited to cramped and urban environments.
Quebec has also implemented a 72-hour time limit for picking up traffic cones. It had been determined that this was the realistic timeframe for a positive impact on quality of life, Minister Guilbault said at the time.