Impact of Infrastructure

I saw this tweet

The Victoria Bridge, built for Grand Trunk Rail in 1860, may be our most structurally sound! #6degreesMontrealDownton google.ca/search?q=grand…
— Anna Anthropologist (@AnnaAnthro) January 7, 2013

and had to respond: Not Saying much.  That is, that the rest of the Montreal bridges and tunnels are in such lousy shape that it is not that hard to be the most structrually sound bridge/tunnel in the Montreal area.

The increasingly decrepit bridges drastically reduced my ability to enjoy Montreal:

• I dropped out of the city-wide Montreal Ultimate leagues as I could no longer stand driving through rush hour, especially to cross a bridge, to get to games.  As the league expanded and had more games in Laval (crossing bridges on the northern side of Montreal) and in Brossard and other parts of the South Shore (crossing bridges on the southern side), I had to spend longer and longer to get to where I wanted to go.  So, I dropped off of my teams, and told my friends that I would sub for their teams IF and only IF the game was on the Island of Montreal and in the middle or western parts of the island.  With tunnels potentially collapsing, games on the eastern side became less attractive as well.
• I became less enthused about skiing in the Eastern townships as that would require crossing a bridge to the south short.  Going north was less problematic but I really enjoyed the places to the East.  

I didn't move to Carleton and Ottawa because of the bridges, but the demise of the infrastructure in Montreal made the decision easier.  I found it harder and harder to enjoy the city and its surroundings, which made the other aspects of Ottawa and the new job more attractive.  I don't think I am alone in re-calculating the ability to enjoy the city as it falls apart.

Given that the political weight in the province is not in Montreal, I doubt that things will really change.