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Ex pressway Aesthetics in the 1960s

Mgt ar are E. Hodges is a Professor in > Margaret E. Hodges the Department of Art History at , Montreal. Her research focuses on Canadian architecture and urban planning, the work of women architects, and the aesthetics of architecture. n this paper I examine the Modern Iaesthetics of the urban expressway as it applies to the Turcot Complex in Montreal, built during the 1960s and early 1970s. The aesthetic value of the elevated expressway was understood in terms of its functionality, to ensure the smooth flow of traffic and the overall working of the city. The possibility of moving at high speeds was part of the aesthetic experience as it contributed to a new way of seeing the world. I argue that the Turcot Complex can be understood in terms of a functionalist aesthetics articu- lated in the urban theory of Blanche and Daniel van Ginkel of van Ginkel Associates, Montreal. I suggest that the phenomenological experience of the elevated expressway, when functioning as first designed, continues to express the positive qualities as articulated in the work of such perceptive theorists as Kevin Lynch in the 1960s. I compare the van Ginkels’ approach with what I call the green aesthetics of today’s approach to urban mobility in North American cities. Montreal is currently deciding on how to handle the deteriorating Turcot Complex and I look at some of the options being debated, including the levelling of the elevated system.

In postwar North America, the cross-town expressway was considered a tool to solve the mobility problems of dense intercity traffic. An example is the Montreal plan for an East-West Expressway of 1948 (fig. 1). Designed as a limited access route, the expressway was to function as a multipurpose traffic facilitator: for traffic decongestion in the downtown core, as a transportation network connecting the FG NI . 1.  etwork of Traffic Ways. An East-west Expressway, Montreal, City of Montreal Planning Department, 1948. | City of Montréal archives section.

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FG MI . 2.  etropolitan Boulevard. Urban Transportation Developments in Eleven FG MI . 3.  etropolitan Boulevard at the Décarie Interchange. Urban Canadian Metropolitan Areas, Ottawa, Canadian Good Roads Association, 1968, Transportation Developments in Eleven Canadian Metropolitan p. 10. | Reproduced with the express written authorization of the Transportation Association of . Areas, Ottawa, Canadian Good Roads Association, p. 10. | Reproduced with the express written authorization of the Transportation Association of Canada.

major sectors within the city, and as a city Thus the expressway plan was threefold: and continuity, and had led to urban bypass route. For city planners, designing it was necessary for traffic control, for sprawl, in the form of ribbon develop- an urban expressway often meant choos- opening up new development, and for ment and monotonous suburbs. The ing the path of least resistance by avoid- urban rehabilitation. The expressway Team Ten members of the Congrès inter- ing the dense core of the city and routing would have to fit with the existing arter- national d’architecture moderne (CIAM) along the waterfront.1 In the Montreal ial system and geographic elements of began working on a theory of mobility plan, a major advantage of a waterfront the mountain, the river, and the Lachine in which the urban expressway would be route was the non-interference factor. Canal system. It could not interfere with lifted from its ameliorative function to a It was suggested that stable residential existing stable neighbourhoods, but unifying function, both visually and sym- neighbourhoods, parks, playgrounds, was seen as ideal for “blight” removal. bolically, to make the form of the city com- churches, and shopping centres would Primary, too, was the enjoyment factor of prehensible, while ensuring the smooth not be affected by the new expressway. driving, by “insuring [drivers] the freedom functioning of the traffic network.4 In Although traffic relief was given top pri- of movement necessary to make Montreal 1960, Team Ten members Blanche and ority, other criteria included the possibil- a pleasant city in which to live and work.”3 Daniel van Ginkel were hired as con- ity of shaping future development and The emphasis placed on expressway plan- sultants in the Montreal Department importantly, eliminating blight in slum ning as a tool for rehabilitation would of Planning.5 Drawing on the theory of areas. The report stated: result in major demolitions of functioning structuralism and the space-time theory neighbourhoods when the plan was of Sigfried Giedion, they developed an By running through slums and blighted city implemented as the “Lalonde and Valois aesthetics of mobility based on the posi- blocks, construction will be less costly as Plan” (1959). tive aspects of the urban expressway as regards land acquisition and will at the an art form, and as an essential unifying same time enhance the value of the adja- By the 1950s the automobile was seen element of the parts of the city to the cent areas. If the expressway is conceived by certain critics as the great destroyer greater whole. They developed an aes- along those principles, it can aid in urban of cities. Accommodating the car in the thetics of the city based on two scales of rehabilitation, without impairing its primary city through the creation of major road movement, the scale of the pedestrian function of meeting predetermined traffic systems had destroyed many essential and the scale of the automobile. Their needs.2 urban qualities, including human scale theory can be understood, within the

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context of the van Ginkels’ rerouting of and twenty-seven industries. Much of the the East-West Expressway plan, designed surrounding land would be changed to by Lalonde and Valois. parking lots and green-space, or rezoned for industry.8 The Lalonde and Valois plan That plan was for a modern, elevated, reflected the Montreal Plan of 1948 in its and minimum-access expressway that approach to urban rehabilitation through would complete the existing form of the the clearance of “blighted” areas. The modern expressway network already proposal to replace communities with under construction by then. This included parking lots and green spaces amounted the Metropolitan Boulevard, the elevated to a “sanitization” of the urban environ- freeway that would open in 1960, as the ment that was current in postwar plan- Montreal portion of the Trans-Canada ning.9 The van Ginkels proposed a new Highway (fig. 2). The Metropolitan was route that they thought would be less connected with the Décarie Interchange, disruptive of the city form. They believed an elevated cloverleaf structure also that the construction of the East-West under construction to freeway stan- Expressway was inevitable, but that it dards (fig. 3). The Décarie Boulevard was possible to design with the auto- that would eventually open in 1966 mobile in a way that would add aesthetic would continue south as a below grade value to the city. That would require an route that would be integrated with aesthetics of mobility.10 the and eventually with the Champlain Bridge. The Lalonde The van Ginkels drew on Sigfried Giedion’s and Valois study proposed the major space-time concept in his aesthetics of the FG WI . 4.  est Side Development including Henry Hudson Parkway, 1934-1937. | New York City east-west route across Montreal and an American Parkway system of the 1930s. Department of Parks and Recreation. interchange with the Décarie, and the For Giedion, the beauty of the Parkway Champlain Bridge. The Champlain Bridge was expressed in the construction of the was also under construction according to motorway for uninterrupted movement. indistinguishable from the land itself. plans by Lalonde and Valois, and would In the theory of functionalism, beauty Devices such as centre garden strips cam- open in 1962. Finally, according to the arises in aesthetic judgment according to ouflage oncoming cars and the driver is 1948 plan for an East-West Expressway, the fitness of the object to its purpose or liberated by the total sense of freedom the elevated expressway would be routed use—in the case of the Parkway, that is from interruptions to the smooth flow along the harbourfront. When the mobility. Giedion argued that the driver of movement by light signals and cross- Lalonde and Valois plan was introduced experiences aesthetic value in movement. traffic. As such, the experience is exhila- to the public in 1960, the van Ginkels In terms of the Parkway, it is not the con- rating as if hovering above the graceful identified three major problems.6 First struction as abstract sculpture that is the sweeping grades of the Parkway, but at the expressway would be elevated over object of appreciation, although sculp- the same time, grounded. However, the Commissioner’s Street, the harbourfront tural forms are aesthetical from a single Parkway was not meant to penetrate the road, effectively cutting the city off point of view. The aesthetic experience city, only follow along its edges (fig. 4).11 from the waterfront. Secondly, much of arises from the kinaesthetic effect of the old city, including significant historic moving over the surface of the road, In a special issue of Canadian Art buildings, would be demolished for the and seeing in movement. The automobile (1962) dedicated to the automobile, inclusion of the expressway entrance driver gains a new freedom to control the van Ginkels explored the idea of and exit ramps. Finally, many residential speed, and the aesthetic experience is space-time as it applied to expressway neighbourhoods and small businesses revealed by movement as space-time design in the urban environment and would be destroyed.7 The Lalonde and feeling. The Parkway is a space-frame beyond. Their theory depended on the Valois plan proposed that demolition construction allowing for the pure enjoy- acceptance of the automobile as part of would displace one thousand four hun- ment of nature. The road rises and falls in the modern city, not something to be dred and fifty-six families, thirty business, imitation of the landscape and is almost routed to the edges. The solution was

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FG TI . 5.  he city as a visual entity. H.P.D. van Ginkel, 1962, “Design with the Automobile: FG SI . 6.  culpture, by Max Bill. Blanche van Ginkel, 1962, The City,” Canadian Art 77, vol. XIX, no. 1, p. 45. | John Reed. “Design with the Automobile: The Landscape,” Canadian Art 77, vol. XIX, no. 1, p. 57. | Hugo P. Herdeg.

to understand the aesthetic value of totality of our environment. The auto- its own aesthetics. The van Ginkels argued the expressway as an object of beauty, mobile is a tool for transportation, lei- that designing with the automobile and its potential to act as a unifying ele- sure and play, but more importantly, it is means designing with its own scale of ment in the city. In their view, the auto- a stimulus for the creation of new forms speed. And the elevated expressway is mobile had contributed positive aspects of aesthetic merit.12 especially appropriate to an aesthet- to society, including the value of mov- ics of mobility (fig. 7). Drawing on such ing at high speeds, which allows for a Lemco van Ginkel included the sculptural examples as the Sandöbron approach particular psychological experience for form of the elevated expressway itself as trestle, Sweden, Lemco van Ginkel noted the driver in terms of kinaesthetic and contributing aesthetic value to the land- that the elevated expressway leaves the visual experience (fig. 5). The van Ginkels scape. Since movement is essential to ground and its natural features undis- argued that driving in the automobile the appreciation of a three-dimensional turbed. And in certain terrain, the ele- conditions what we see and how we see composition, both sculpture and express- vated roadway is functionally necessary. in our everyday experience of the world. way construction must be experienced in She states: Traveling at high speeds creates new vis- movement. Sculpture can be seen only ual images of place in time, allowing one by moving around the object while the I f the road is carried on a structure that to understand the form of the whole city landscape can be seen only by moving has a minimum contact with the ground, or region. As one moves rapidly, images through it (fig. 6). A three-dimensional the terrain may flow freely below it. In this are received at a high frequency and are composition, by the nature of the space case, there is play between the artificial superimposed in the mind’s eye to form it defines, creates forces of movement. and the natural, the smooth mechanism of a composite image. As Lemco van Ginkel The early Parkway planners integrated the one contrasted between the softness explained, this new excursion into space- the motorway with the landscape, in an or roughness of the other. Treated this time by way of the expressway allows attempt to camouflage the presence of way, the structure may become a sculp- us to realize the true dimensions of our man and machines. However, there is tural element in the landscape, enhancing relationships in our visual environment. both the landscape of the natural world it in much the same way as does a statue It increases our understanding of the and the man-made landscape—each with in parkland13.) (fig. 8

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FG TI . 7.  he road in counterpoint with the landscape. Sandöbron approach trestle, Sweden. FG TI . 8.  urcot Interchange, 2009. | Pieter Sijpkes. Design by Skanska Cementgjuteriet, 1938-1943. Blanche van Ginkel, 1962, “Design with the Automobile: The Landscape,” Canadian Art 77, vol. xix, no. 1, p. 56. | G.E. Kidder Smith.

The final idea is that of the articulation leave the central core intact, rededicat- underground level would connect with of two scales of movement in the city: the ing the “heart of the city” as a pedestrian the subterranean pedestrian system of scale of the automobile and the scale of area. The plan was to encourage pedes- the new commercial district on Sainte- the pedestrian.14 The ideas expressed were trian movement and the use of public Catherine Street, and the financial dis- realized in the Central Area Circulation transit at the city centre. The van Ginkels trict. Most importantly, a ground-level plan of 1961. proposed a multilevel pedestrian sys- pedestrian system would be developed to tem throughout the central area, Centre reconnect the city centre with the human In the van Ginkels’ plan, the destructive Hochelaga. It would be part of the total scaled streets of the old city. It was this elements of the automobile would be circulation system of the city connecting level that would allow for the complete controlled in two ways. First, the East- the different concentrations of land use sense of community at the centre core. West Expressway would be built in a and emphasizing three levels of pedes- Their purpose was to reconnect the old route separated from the residential areas trian circulation: above ground, at ground city to the new downtown and re-estab- slated for demolition in the Lalonde and level and below ground. They recognized lish it as a working part of the total city.16 Valois report.15 Freed from the ground, that the terraces that arose from the river the elevated expressway would hug the suggested a three-dimensional quality The Central Area Circulation Study estab- terrain of the Saint-Jacques escarpment that they wished to make more appar- lished the new below ground route for that created a natural break in the urban ent in the city form. Centre Hochelaga the East-West Expressway through the form. Constructing the route adjacent to would be a traffic hub for all public trans- downtown core, thus sparing the old city. the railway meant that disruption of the portation systems in the city: the metro, However, the van Ginkels’ plan for the existing city pattern could be avoided. central rail, bus lines (both rapid and dis- expressway to run along the Saint-Jacques Secondly, as the land naturally rises tant), and a proposed airport transit line. escarpment to avoid massive demolition toward the downtown, the expressway Focusing on public transit would reserve was not followed. The process of demoli- would continue underground and thus the city centre for pedestrian use. The tion was undertaken from 1965 to 1970

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FG CI . 9.  azelais Street, the Tannery Village, 2009. | Margaret E. Hodges. FG I . 10. Protest on Cazelais Street, 2009. | Margaret E. Hodges.

through the Canadian National (CN) right that it gives one the sense of the futuristic Writing in the 1960s, Kevin Lynch sug- of way in the Turcot Yards and through vision that the visitors to Expo ’67 must gested that one of the most memorable Saint-Henri neighbourhoods (fig. 9). In have experienced as they approached the forms in the city is when extensive views addition, a second elevated expressway, modernist monoliths of soaring white are made possible by an elevated portion the Bonaventure, was built along the concrete. Professor Pieter Sijpkes, of of a freeway. For example, a raised view remainder of the shoreline as a connec- McGill University, described the effect of can allow for a panoramic vista over the tion between the downtown and the the Turcot Interchange as he drove over it city. A sense of emotional delight arises Champlain Bridge, effectively cutting off late on opening day, in 1967: “The Turcot from the wide visual sweep that is a staple the city from the waterfront. This foiled Interchange looming high above the of expressway driving.20 This is the kind of the van Ginkels’ plans for a green water- black landscape on its one hundred-foot experience that is possible from the high front development and the revitalization stilts, lit by two parallel, continuous bands westbound lanes where the bird’s eye of Griffintown.17 of built-in fluorescent lights, fit very well view over lower Montreal is exhilarat- into this brave new world.”19 ing. The expressway succeeds as a high Much of the network of elevated express- functioning traffic distribution system ways was completed in time for the open- The ramps for the proposed Autoroute allowing for an uninterrupted flow. The ing of the Universal Exposition in April of Ville-Marie were also constructed by 1967, expressway sends vehicles to the left for 1967 (commonly referred to as Expo ’67), but the Ville-Marie Expressway section, the Saint-Jacques connection and again for example the Turcot Interchange.18 from the Turcot Interchange to the city left for the Décarie connection, and then The East-West Expressway as it evolved core, would not be completed until 1970. to the right for the Champlain Bridge con- from the 1959 Lalonde and Valois plan The two-and-a-half-mile-long section of nection. Under ordinary circumstances expressed an image of the space-age the Ville-Marie running through Saint- this system is rarely blocked with traffic mobility of the automobile. The smooth Henri involves two elevated carriageways and it is possible to attain a high speed in curving forms of white concrete of the built as split-level viaducts. The westbound this section while leaving the city. Lynch Turcot Interchange suggested a futuris- lanes are built nine to eighteen feet above noted: “Observers are impressed, even in tic and experimental aspect that blended the eastbound lanes. Toward the Turcot memory, by the apparent “kinaesthetic” well with the international and national Interchange the westbound lanes are quality of the path, the sense of motion architecture of the Expo pavilions. A most cantilevered over the eastbound lanes. along it: turning, rising, falling. Particularly memorable image on the eastbound lanes Thus, when driving west, one is unaware is this true where the path is traversed at of the viaduct is the tangle of looping of the lower levels of the expressway. It high speed […] Tactile and inertial senses interconnection of the Turcot Interchange is not possible to imagine what the built enter into this perception of motion, but design. The effect is always interesting in environment is like below this section. vision seems to be dominant.”21 After

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FG DI . 11.  ixie Highway (State Highway 805), West Palm Beach, FG CI . 12.  lematis Street Circle, West Palm Beach, Florida, 2010. | Margaret E. Hodges. Florida, 2010. | Margaret E. Hodges.

experiencing this sweeping view and Angrignon, and Montreal-West inter- toward removing freeways and restoring high speed, one gradually descends onto changes, and sections of Autoroutes 20 cities for pedestrians and bikers. In many the grade-level roads that run parallel to and 720 (the Ville-Marie). The new green cities this involves proposals for lower- Turcot yards. Here the view is one of the boulevard (placed on embankments), ing expressways to green embankments, ascension of the Angrignon Interchange replacing Autoroute 20, and the Canadian decreasing expressway sizes, as well as that is also part of the proposed levelling Pacific Railway (CPR) tracks will be con- rejoining cities to their waterfronts by process. It is here, when traffic joins in the structed further north toward Pullman the levelling of expressways.24 A green grade-level stretch, that traffic becomes Road. This new location is the approxi- aesthetics in terms of mobility also means a problem at rush hour, due to the traf- mate location that was proposed by the adding public transit and bike paths to fic stops at the Angrignon Interchange. van Ginkel plan for the placement of the the transportation scheme. The Transport On approaching the centre, the effect elevated East-West Expressway, close to plan for the new Turcot Complex of the cantilevered westbound viaduct the Saint-Jacques escarpment. Transport appears to exemplify such a green aes- first hides, then reveals the view to the Quebec argued that this move will open thetics, as illustrated on Internet with city centre. Suddenly the city centre land- up the former rail yard property for future pictures of beautified, manicured, green marks come into view, which is an excit- development. After the construction of spaces and bicycle paths. For example, ing experience if the traffic is moving at a the new highway, it will take several more in two images, the Saint-Jacques escarp- rapid pace. Today, however, the aesthetic years to demolish the old expressway.23 ment is revealed in its current natural value of the expressway is often marred Transport Quebec’s plan has met with state and after, as a manicured land- when the expressway cannot function at public dissatisfaction. The surrounding scape with people happily using a bike normal speeds due to the overburdening neighbourhoods will be affected by at trail. Similar images show a location off of vehicles. According to recent statistics, least six years of construction. Excessive De La Vérendrye, Rue de Roberval, an as many as two hundred and eighty thou- levels of dust and noise will be produced area that was sheared off by the build- sand vehicles use the Turcot Interchange during this period. Unlike the raised ing of the East-West Expressway. The daily.22 The expressway has become ineffi- structures of the East-West Expressway, current landscape appears deserted and cient, unhealthy, and dangerous. the ground level system will have a more damaged. It is revealed beside a photo- immediate impact on the environment. montage of a landscaped embankment In 2007, Transport Quebec announced that and people happily walking in the area.25 the Turcot Complex would be demolished Today, as cities seek ways to meet Kyoto But the images of the greened spaces and rebuilt at grade-level or on embank- levels, a “green aesthetics” is the most are reminiscent of the 1959 planning ments. The Turcot Complex includes the likely approach to gain public approval. approach of Lalonde and Valois to elim- Turcot Interchange, the De La Vérendrye, There is a movement across North America inate blight and replace it with visually

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the expressway only brings in more cars and discourages the use of public transit. Lockwood celebrates congestion in the city as it inspires new means of public transit.28 At West Palm Beach, decades of road construction and street widening had resulted in a system that catered to heavy north-south traffic flow and destroyed the pedestrian value of the downtown and surrounding neighbourhoods. Many main roads were actually narrowed, and complicated with roundabouts, with the goal of eliminating through traffic and creating more “walkable” spaces for the pedestrian. A new Downtown Master Plan was devised to introduce traffic calming measures, improve the street environment for business and pedestrians, and to create aesthetic value.29 As Lockwood explains, Dixie Highway (805), a hostile commuter FG TI . 13.  urcot Interchange 2, 2009. | Pieter Sijpkes. route from the north, was reduced to two lanes through the downtown (fig. 11). Olive Boulevard (Federal Highway 1), a “sanitized” green landscaped areas. The American traffic experts Paul Moore hostile commuter route from the Fort plan does not represent a true green aes- and Ian Lockwood have suggested that Worth suburbs, was reduced from five thetics. What becomes clear is that the the solution to the Turcot involves the lanes to two lanes, and landscaped with green embankments do not contribute reduction of traffic by the creation of street trees and decorative lighting. Street to a healthier environment as they fail to a road system that is greatly reduced parking was returned to the downtown reduce the number of cars that will use in scale. They argue that the adjacent area. As a result there has been a revital- the Turcot. One of the main objectives of neighbourhoods, such as Saint-Henri, ization of shopping in the heart of the the Transport Quebec plan is to maintain will best be revived with the design of a downtown. Clematis Street was a one-way the current vehicle capacity, and, in fact, system of city streets and roundabouts. three-lane street with two parking lanes. to increase it, but now at ground level For example, in Atlanta, home of Paul It is now a two-lane two-way street that or on embankments, which will increase Moore, freeways that have divided and has been transformed into a high ped- the amount of traffic noise and pollution polluted the city for decades are being estrian and shopping area including a in local neighbourhoods. The Transport replaced with smaller, pedestrian-scaled public library, a plaza, and streetscaping Quebec plan also involves more demoli- streets and bicycle paths. Lockwood, an that enhances the aesthetic value of the tion in neighbourhoods, such as along Orlando (Florida) planner, suggests that downtown (fig. 12).30 The effect of this the north side of Cazelais Street, where major highways should stop at the limits redevelopment is of a traffic calming blan- citizens carried out a series of protests, to of the city. They were never meant to be ket in the heart of the downtown, creating no avail (fig. 10). The street is part of the city-systems. He states that the highway is a harmonious relationship between cars historic Tannery Village that was partially about long trips and speed, while the city and pedestrians. demolished during the original construc- is about short trips and access.27 In his plan tion of the East-West Expressway, and for the rehabilitation of West Palm Beach In terms of the Transport Quebec plan now will lose one hundred and sixty units (Florida), Moore began with the premise to level the Turcot Complex, Lockwood of rare affordable housing very close to that “place” should trump speed and ser- and Moore have suggested that the downtown for the levelling of the Turcot vice. Rather than the 1950s era concept Turcot Complex be replaced with a series Interchange.26 of undoing congestion in the inner city, of city streets and roundabout systems,

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thus discouraging through traffic. Such Sapodilla Avenue and Tamarind Avenue have the potential of producing an overall development could occur by having cars to the west of the downtown have been traffic calming effect within the city of exit off Highway 20 near Ville Saint- maintained as commuter routes, although Montreal. The approach would result in Pierre, and routing traffic along a sys- speed has been reduced by the introduc- a substantial reduction in the projected tem of streets in commercial, retail, and tion of roundabouts and streetscaping cost of the Transport Quebec plan. Thus, residential areas. The could in residential neighbourhoods. These a much greater monetary investment in be fully developed for leisure activities routes carry trucks to inner city areas, the public transit system would be pos- with parks and walking paths, and they however the major truck routes are multi- sible. Also, the environmental cost would suggested the unearthing of the river lane expressways such as the I-95 that be reduced if the Turcot Complex is not under the Turcot Yards. As in West Palm skirt the inner city neighbourhoods. In demolished. Rehabilitation would con- Beach, traffic calming techniques would Montreal, it seems that only the projected tribute to a true green aesthetics, more ensure a resurgence of investment in Autoroute 30, the south shore bypass than simply a visually sanitized environ- these areas. Finally, they suggested that road, could assist in this task, combined ment that is in reality given over to com- the Harbourfront Commission’s plan to with the introduction of rapid transit to muter purposes. Finally, the Transport level the Bonaventure Expressway is a the areas off island and parking lots to Quebec plan to lower the elevated sound one and that the elevated express- keep the cars off the island. These are expressway onto green embankments, way should be replaced with a system projects that will take years to complete.33 closer to the Saint-Jacques escarpment, of city streets.31 Lockwood and Moore’s would effectively destroy one of the suggestions are attractive, especially in Pieter Sijpkes is one of the few propon- most important natural areas of the city. the case of the levelling of the elevated ents of repairing the Turcot Interchange The most positive aspect of the elevated Bonaventure. The inclusion of pedestrian- for permanent use, through the addi- expressway system is that it leaves the friendly streets in this area would enhance tion of structural arches built below the natural landscape of the Saint-Jacques the overall environment and is reminis- expressway. He rejects the demolition of escarpment untouched. The escarpment is cent of the van Ginkel plan for the revital- the Turcot Interchange as too costly and an area of approximately four kilometres ization of , Griffintown, and environmentally damaging. Illustrations in length that is ideal for the develop- the Lachine Canal. However, one wonders of his system also suggest an aesthetically ment of parklands and walking trails.35 It if they solve the problem of traffic in the appealing solution (fig. 13). Supporting is in the interest of the city to develop city. As reported by Andy Riga, Lockwood the raised expressways may be the best whatever existing natural areas and water and Moore suggest that the approxi- solution, if combined with improving the areas for the enhancement of inner city mately two hundred and eighty thousand adjacent areas with green space and bike living that will truly add aesthetic value, vehicles would be dispersed throughout paths. At about one half of the cost of the and environmental health. In addition, the neighbourhoods along the Turcot proposed Transport Quebec plan, there the development of the existing system Complex, at low speeds, allowing for the would be more money to invest in pub- of inner city roads would revitalize the demolition of the elevated expressway. lic transit and pedestrian and bike paths neighbourhoods that border the Turcot Eventually, many drivers would shift to throughout the city.34 Rehabilitating the Complex. Attractive neighbourhoods other means of transportation, includ- Turcot Complex would allow time for the could assist in reducing the loss of families ing public transit, bicycling, and walking. development of a rapid transit system who seek the suburbs to find comfort- Residential and commercial properties beyond the island to encourage public able living environments, and they could would be saved and the neighbourhoods transit use from the suburbs. With the bring people back to the city. As in the enhanced through new investment stimu- elevated expressways restored, the Turcot van Ginkels’ conception, this is designing lus. Suburban sprawl would be reduced as Complex would regain some of its original for two scales of movement, the scale of more people would be attracted to the aesthetic value. And, with the reduction the pedestrian and the scale of the auto- convenience of urban living.32 It could of vehicular use, the expressway could mobile, with a harmonious relationship be argued that this inner road disper- regain its original functional quality. between the automobile and the pedes- sal system will function efficiently with trian at the smaller scale. By rehabilitating numerous paths to distribute the body of If a system of inner city commuter routes the Turcot and reducing traffic flow, two east-west traffic flow to the downtown. were developed in conjunction with a scales of movement can be maintained For example, at West Palm Beach, South rehabilitated Turcot Complex, this would in the city.

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N otes H.P. Daniel van Ginkel: Urban Planning, Ph.D. van Ginkel, notes for The Child in the City. dissertation in art history and communication The van Ginkels articulated their theory of studies, Montreal, McGill University. two scales of movement, one for the auto- 1. See the plan, An East-West Expressway, 1948, mobile and one for the pedestrian, in nume- Montréal, City Planning Department. The plan 6. The Lalonde and Valois plan was illustrated rous articles. They suggested the idea of the was the culmination of studies for a Master in The Gazette (Montreal), March 25, 1960. car as “mechanized man” and the pedestrian Plan (1944) and parking surveys from 1945 to There was no public consultation process as “unmechanized man.” Of particular impor- 1947. American interwar highways were illus- in the postwar period. When the East-West tance to this paper is the special 1962 issue trated as models, for example New York and Expressway was announced to the public in of Canadian Art 77 dedicated to the automo- environs, including Major Deegan Boulevard, the Montreal news, the destructive aspects bile. Blanche was guest editor of the issue and Triborough Bridge, Henry Hudson Parkway of the access ramps were not illustrated and both of the van Ginkels contributed an article. and Interchange, the Lincoln Tunnel and the public remained unaware of the drama- Several of Blanche’s writings concern the Gowanus (Brooklyn). Other models included tic changes that were being proposed. The movement of the pedestrian in the city. She Lincoln Park, Chicago, Hollywood Parkway, Los van Ginkels expressed their concerns to Michel developed a space-time theory of movement Angeles, and the Slussen, Stockholm (today Chevalier, secretary of the Port Council, and as it applied to the pedestrian. For example, under redevelopment). they were commissioned to complete a study see “The City Centre Pedestrian,” Architecture of the Port that argued against the elevated 2. Id. : 18. Canada, Journal of the Society for the Study expressway along the harbour, claiming that of Architecture in Canada, 1966, vol. 43, no. 8, 3. Id. : 19. it would hamper trucking operations. Their p. 36-39. 4. Smithson, Alison and Peter, 1967, Urban major concern, however, was to save the old Structuring, New York, Reinhold Publishing, city from demolition. 11. Giedion, Sigfried, 1963, Space, Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition, p. 50-51. Theories of “mobility” and “change” 7. See Simard, Jacques, H.P. Daniel van Ginkel, Cambridge, Harvard Press, p. 727-736. This were developed by Team Ten members deter- and Blanche van Ginkel, 1960, Preliminary Port author based his idea of the motor-way mined to improve on the ideas of the older Study for the Montreal Port Council, Montreal, as space-frame construction on the Cubist CIAM generation. Their ideas involved the Montreal Port Council, p. 1-43. theory of structuralism and sociologically concept of fragmented seeing represented in 8. CCA Archives, File 27-A11-04, Montreal Port, informed planning. Members, including Aldo painting. Digest of Reports, Lalonde and Valois, 1959, van Eyck, Daniel van Ginkel, the Smithsons, 12. van Ginkel, Blanche, 1962, “Editorial,” Autostrade Est-Ouest. and Blanche Lemco (later van Ginkel), shared Canadian Art 77, vol. XIX, no. 1, p. 19. ideas and developed concerns for “human 9. Montreal was involved in several projects 13. van Ginkel, Blanche, 1962, “The Landscape,” associations.” Team Ten thinking evolved into concerning slum clearance by the 1950s. Canadian Art 77, vol. XIX, no. 1, p. 55. the theory of “urban identification.” Examples include the Dozois Report of 1954, which resulted in the clearance of 19.7 acres 14. See van Ginkel, Blanche, 1962, “Landscape,” 5. In 1960, the van Ginkels were hired by downtown for the development of the and van Ginkel, H.P. Daniel, “The City,” Claude Robillard, planning director, to act Jeanne-Mance Housing project (1956-1958), Canadian Art 77, vol. XIX, no. 1, for this idea. as consultants in the reorganization of the and the clearance of approximately 24 acres Planning Department. See Canadian Centre 15. CCA Archives, File 27-A11-04, Montréal Port, for the building of the Canadian Broadcasting for Architecture (CCA) Archives, File 27-A17- Digest of Reports, Lalonde and Valois, 1959, Corporation in 1958, which displaced approxi- 02, Letter to Edmond Bacon, City Planning Autostrade Est-Ouest. mately 200 families. Both of these areas were Commissioner, Philadelphia, Pa., from Blanche considered “blighted.” 16. CCA Archives, File 27-A13-03, Van Ginkel van Ginkel, August 14, 1962. Daniel van Ginkel Associates, Central Area Circulation: A was a founding member of Team Ten in 1956. Note: The van Ginkels were particularly Preliminary Study, March 1961, p. 1-23. See He was a younger member of the Dutch CIAM concerned with the negative impact of har- also CCA Archives, File 27-A13-03, “Proposed and collaborated with Aldo van Eyck on the bourfront expressways on cities such as New Plan for Central Area,” 1961, Montreal Central design of the New Town, Nagele, in Holland. York and Toronto. Such expressway designs Area Circulation, Presentation Posters. Michel They and the younger English members of had the effect of severing the waterfront Chevalier, executive director of the Montreal CIAM, such as Alison and Peter Smithson, from the city. In her theory of urban identifi- Citizens Committee, recommended that the formed Team Ten at the Dubrovnik CIAM 10. cation, Lemco van Ginkel compared the urban Committee commission the van Ginkels to Blanche Lemco initiated the Philadelphia CIAM landscape to a great fabric that needed to be complete this study, and it was presented in Group for Architectural Investigation in 1951. woven together through planning, not divi- the fall of 1961. Claude Robillard, director of She met Daniel van Ginkel at the 1953 CIAM 9, ded by expressways. the City Planning Department, established the Aix-en-Provence. She contributed to CIAM 9 10. Daniel van Ginkel began to develop his theory study as the official working document of the and CIAM 10 and, with Daniel, presented the of two scales of movement in the city as early Planning Department. Design for Bowring Park, Saint John’s, Nfld., as 1957 in his proposal for a study on the at CIAM 11, Otterlo. As such, the van Ginkels Note: Part of the van Ginkel plan involved place of the child in the city. He approached were instrumental in introducing ideas that the establishment of multi-storey parking Ian McHarg at the University of Pennsylvania were essential to aligning the Montreal facilities at the Guy and Berri interchanges concerning a publication in collaboration Planning Department’s procedures with to keep all automobile traffic out of the city with Aldo van Eyck. See CCA Archives, File international trends. See Hodges, Margaret centre. Furthermore, a system of jitney buses 27-A47-03, Letter to Ian McHarg, May 3, 1957; Emily, 2004, Blanche Lemco van Ginkel and would provide transportation to the centre see also CCA Archives, File 27-A47-03, Daniel

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of the city. Their desire was to encourage years later due to the eroding effect of road 28. Riga, ibid. See also Lockwood, Ian and Joel the use of public transit and they felt that salt on the aluminum casing. Mann, 2009, “Transportation and Highways the use of jitney buses would greatly reduce in Montreal,” in Gauthier et al., Montréal at 20. Lynch, Kevin, 1960, The Image of the City, pollution. The idea exemplifies their theory the Crossroads…, op. cit. : 155-169. Cambridge, Harvard Press, p. 42-44. of two scales of movement. Their values are 29. See Duany, Andres and Elizabeth Plater- expressed today in Montreal’s annual Car Free 21. Id. : 97-98. Zyberk, 2001, Downtown Master Plan for the Day in the downtown core. For the parking 22. See Gauthier, Pierre Jochen Jaeger, and Jason City of West Palm Beach, Florida, West Palm facility plans, see CCA Archives, File 27-A13-03, Prince (eds.), “Introduction,” In Montreal at Beach, City of West Palm Beach, Florida. Also August-December, 1960. the Crossroads: Superhighways, The Turcot see Riga, Andy, “Reconstructing the Turcot,” 17. CCA Archives, File 27-A17-10, Van Ginkel and the Environment, Montreal, Black Rose The Gazette (Montreal), April 17, 2009. Associates, Rehabilitation of the Old City of Books, 2009. 30. See Lockwood, Ian, West Palm Beach Traffic Montreal: Draft Report, January 1963, p. 1-47. 23. Transport Quebec, Reconstruction of the Presentation, [http://www.njsmartchoices. The van Ginkels prepared an exhibition, “Le Turcot Complex, in Montreal, [http://www. org/…/west_palm_beach_traffic_calming_ Vieux-Montréal,” which was displayed in the mtq.gouv.qc.ca], accessed March 18, 2009. presentation.pdf], accessed February 4, 2010. lobby of Place Ville-Marie during February and With the discovery of a crack in a pillar near March of 1963. Finally, in January of 1964, a 31. Riga, “Reconstructing the Turcot,” op. cit. (2007), and more cracks revea- federal Cabinet order enforced the preserva- led in inspections, repair work on the Ville- 32. Ibid. tion of Old Montreal as a historic site. Marie has been ongoing, creating serious 33. Riga, Andy, “The Turcot: Mapping Out the Note: The development of the waterfront had traffic congestion. From ground level, the once Alternative Routes,” The Gazette (Montreal), been part of the van Ginkel plan to reconnect beautiful modernist forms of the expressway April 18, 2009. Also see Bisson, Bruno, “Les the city to the river. Their plans took form as now reveal crumbling concrete and exposed grands projets routiers du MTQ vont nuire à part of their proposal for Expo ’67. The site steel reinforcement bars. Montréal,” La Presse, April 3, 2009. for the world exhibition was to occupy the 24. The list includes: Portland Harbor Drive, San entire area from the Champlain Bridge to the 34. Riga, “Turcot: McGill Architect Says It Can Be Francisco Embarcadero, Milwaukee Park Jacques-Cartier Bridge. The plan comprised Saved,” op. cit. East, Toronto Gardiner, New York West Side, six sections along the waterfront, including Robert Moses Parkway, Paris Pompidou, 35. For a discussion of Pieter Sijpkes’s support sys- the restored old city, an international hou- Rochester Innerloop, Trenton Route 29, Akron tem for the Turcot and his views on the value sing exhibit, and the Expo pavilions. The idea Innerbelt, Washington Whitehurst, Cleveland of the Saint-Jacques escarpment as a natural was to create a cohesive whole that would Shoreline, Nashville Downtown Loop, New parkland, see Sijpkes, Pieter, 2009, “What Is improve the fabric of the city for future use. Haven Route 34, Tokyo Metropolitan, Sidney Still ‘Very’ Good at Turcot,” in Gauthier et al., With the subsequent selection of the island Cahill, to name a few. A successful reuse of an Montréal at the Crossroads…, op. cit. : 59-70. sites for Expo ’67, by Mayor Jean Drapeau, the elevated structure is the New York High Line, construction of the Bonaventure Expressway a railroad trestle running along the Hudson was given priority as the main commuter route River that had been abandoned in 1980. It is to the Expo islands. And with the completion being rehabilitated into a linear park with the of the elevated Bonaventure Expressway, the first phase opened to the public in June 2009. waterfront was cut off from the city. The Additional phases are in progress. van Ginkels’ ideas are illustrated in their pre- sentation maquette, “Man in the City,” at the 25. Transport Quebec, op. cit. Canadian Centre for Architecture. Today, the 26. “Turcot Yards,” The Gazette (Montreal), Montreal Harbourfront Corporation proposes February 5, 2007, p. A3. See also “Life, Death the replacement of the elevated Bonaventure and Turcot,” Mirror News, March 4, 2009, and Expressway with a boulevard, and the deve- “‘Lost Cause’ Protest in the Shadow of Turcot,” lopment of adjacent areas, in their Montreal The Gazette (Montreal), September 27, 2008. Harbourfront Vision 2025: the City and the St. Lawrence: a Proposal for the Future, 2004, 27. Riga, Andy, “Rethinking Montreal’s Urban Montreal, Société du havre de Montréal. The Highways: What to do about the Turcot, current plan reflects the van Ginkels’ idea Notre Dame?” The Gazette (Montreal) to reconnect the city of Montreal with its “Metropolitan News,” April 6, 2009, and waterfront. “Urban Highway Revisited,” The Gazette (Montreal), April 4, 2009, p. A3. For an infor- 18. Mignogna, Dominic, 1969, A Study of the mative discussion of the impact of expressway Existing Montreal Expressway System, Ph.D. traffic on human health, see Ferguson, dissertation in urban planning, Montreal, N. Meaghan, Robert J. Moriarity, Frederic McGill University. Gagnon, and Melanie J. McCavour, 2009, 19. Riga, Andy, “Turcot: McGill Architect Says “The Health Effects of Road Traffic—A Brief It Can Be Saved,” The Gazette (Montreal), Overview,” In Gauthier et al., Montréal at the April 29, 2009. The futuristic, built-in lights Crossroads…, op. cit. : 135-144. were replaced with pole lighting a couple of

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