Hydro says poles in Montreal North sidewalk will be removed

CTV Montreal: Planners assailed for sidewalk poles Hydro Quebec has said that a series of wooden poles obstructing a sidewalk would be moved soon, Max Harrold reports.

It’s a bizarre street design concept -- old Hydro poles have been incorporated into a new stretch of sidewalk at the corner of Pie IX and Henri Bourassa in Montreal North.

The six poles jut out of the sidewalk, a design that seems accidental but was actually planned according to Hydro Quebec, at least in the short term, indeed, the very short term, as by late Thursday afternoon four of the six had been removed.

The construction is part of a three year, $24 million redevelopment project in the Pie IX and Henri Bourassa Blvds. area.

The project is a collaboration between eight different partners, including the city and Hydro.

Hydro said many of its poles had to be moved, but at a certain point, the utility’s and the city’s timelines fell out of sync, and the city poured concrete for a new sidewalk before Hydro had a chance to remove its poles.

The utility says it will be removing some of the poles Thursday afternoon and that they all should be gone by next week.

“We are in operation. We are moving forward in this,” said spokeswoman Julie Boucher.

This isn’t the first time Hydro poles have found themselves in incongruous places.

In 2012, three poles were left in the middle of redesigned intersections in Valleyfield.

That same year, another Hydro pole was left in the middle of a rural highway in the Eastern Townships.

Once Hydro removes the poles in Montreal North, city-hired contractors will pave over the holes where they once stood at no extra cost to the city, it says.