History
The interchange was projected as part of the first Montreal highway in 1958 and planned to bind it to the Decarie freeway, also designed at the same time. Construction started in October 1965 and Turcot was built in time for the 1967 Montreal Expo, along with other big projects such as the Montreal Metro.
Upon its erection, an old railroad yard belonging to the Grand Trunk Company (today merged into Canadian National) served as location for the interchange and was shortened by 25%, which required the demolition of a roundhouse. In 1969, upon reviewing the situation, city authorities concluded that the project abused of unnecessary space and could have co-existed perfectly alongside the buildings that were otherwise demolished (including some 20 residences).
When originally constructed, the interchange was built high above the ground as a dramatic demonstration of Montreal's status as a modern global metropolis and to accommodate ships passing through the Lachine Canal.
The construction of the freeway junction was said to be rushed during the 1960s boom, with a lack of drainage and permeable concrete, and is now in poor condition, with pieces of concrete slabs falling from overpass structures.
In 2000, more than 300,000 vehicles used the interchange on a daily basis, far more than what it was designed to carry (50,000-60,000 vehicles ).
Since 2010, the interchange became subject to major repairing of the most heavily-accessed ramps. During the summer of 2011, over 2.7 km worth of lanes were restored, repaved and became safely accessible for larger vehicles. The repairing is currently scheduled to continue into 2013.
Read more about this topic: Turcot Interchange
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The greatest horrors in the history of mankind are not due to the ambition of the Napoleons or the vengeance of the Agamemnons, but to the doctrinaire philosophers. The theories of the sentimentalist Rousseau inspired the integrity of the passionless Robespierre. The cold-blooded calculations of Karl Marx led to the judicial and business-like operations of the Cheka.”
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947)
“Every member of the family of the future will be a producer of some kind and in some degree. The only one who will have the right of exemption will be the mother ...”
—Ruth C. D. Havens, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 13, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“One classic American landscape haunts all of American literature. It is a picture of Eden, perceived at the instant of history when corruption has just begun to set in. The serpent has shown his scaly head in the undergrowth. The apple gleams on the tree. The old drama of the Fall is ready to start all over again.”
—Jonathan Raban (b. 1942)