Underground City, Montreal
The underground city of Montreal (French Montréal souterrain or Ville intérieure, English Underground City, officially called RESO ) is a widespread network of pedestrian tunnels and underground shopping malls in the city of Montreal in Canada. The name is derived from the RESO phonetically similar French word réseau (network). The 32 -kilometer-long tunnel system is the largest underground city in the world and covers an area of twelve square kilometers in the central district of Ville- Marie. In this way, among other things, ten metro stations, two bus stations, the two main railway stations, hundreds of shops, restaurants and cinemas, hotels, three function halls, a hockey rink, various office and residential buildings as well as two universities are interconnected. About 80 % of all office and 35% of all retail space in the city center are connected to the underground city. Pedestrians can move in this way, especially in the harsh winter from climatic influences protected in downtown.
History
The idea of the underground city goes back to the urbanist Vincent Ponte. The first part was built in 1962 in connection with the construction of the skyscraper Place Ville -Marie. This office tower received an underground shopping center and tunnel that served as the main railway station Gare Centrale and connection to the Hotel Reine Élizabeth. The construction of the Montreal Metro accelerated development. In 1966 joined the tunnel Bonaventure Station with the hotel Château Champlain, the office towers Place du Canada and Place Bonaventure and the Gare Centrale and Gare Windsor. This subnet has since formed the heart of the underground city.
Also since 1966, the Metro Station Square - Victoria is connected to the Tour de la Bourse, the headquarters of the Montreal Exchange. In the same year ( partly on the territory of the municipality of Westmount ) opened three smaller tunnel networks to the Berri -UQAM metro stations, Guy- Concordia and Atwater, which are separated from the main part of the underground city to this day. Another important part of network of underground city stood from 1974 available. It connects the metro station Place-des - Arts and Place - d'Armes with the skyscraper Complexe Desjardins, the Complexe Guy- Favreau government buildings and the congress center Palais de congrès de Montréal
The third expansion phase followed 1984-1992 To Peel and McGill metro stations were three interconnected underground shopping centers built. Cours Mont- Royal, Place Montréal Trust and Promenades Cathédrale (the latter directly under the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral ). The station McGill had previously been already with the department stores The Bay and Eaton 's (now Complexe Les Ailes ), Centre Eaton, and connected with two smaller office complexes.
Major projects such as 1000 de La Gauchetière (now the tallest building in Montreal ), René- Lévesque in 1250 and the Centre de Commerce mondial de Montréal also ensured in the 1990s for a major expansion of the underground city. Although these buildings have only smaller shopping arcades, the access to the underground city serves as a selling point for the office space. Furthermore, a new tunnel between the Eaton Centre and Place Ville- Marie, the two most important sub-networks connected to each other. The construction of the ice hockey stadium Centre Bell meant that now had the Metro station Lucien- L'Allier connection to the underground city, as well as the new suburban railway station Gare Lucien- L'Allier, which replaced the Gare Windsor.
As part of the redesign of the Quartier international de Montréal in the years 2000 to 2003, several segments were consolidated in the center of the underground city with continuous pedestrian corridors. Was the construction of the ICAO headquarters to build a connection between the metro stations: Place Bonaventure and Square - Victoria consequence. The latter was connected to a new building of the pension CDPQ and a tunnel under the Place Jean -Paul Riopelle at the Palais des congrès and the metro station Place - d'Armes.
2004 received the segments of the underground city a common umbrella brand called RESO, a onomatopoeic description of the French word réseau (network ). The square with the " O " along with the Arrow is also the logo of the metro.
The central segment
Metro Peel
- Carrefour Industrielle - Alliance Cinema Banque Scotia ( IMAX )
- Simons
- (Access to McGill metro via Place Montréal Trust)
Metro McGill
- Centre Eaton / Tour McGill (Access to Bonaventure metro via Place Ville-Marie/Gare Centrale )
- (Access to Metro Peel via Carrefour Industrielle - Alliance)
Metro Bonaventure
- Place Bonaventure Headquarters of the Société de transport de Montréal
- (Access to Metro Square Victoria via ICAO Building)
- (Access to McGill metro via Eaton Centre )
- (Access to metro Lucien- L'Allier via Centre Bell )
- Les Halles de la Gare
- Headquarters of the Canadian National Railway
- Terminus Centre-ville ( bus station for suburban lines )
Metro Lucien- L'Allier
- Centre Bell (Access to Bonaventure metro via Gare Windsor )
Metro Square Victoria
- Headquarters of the ICAO (Access to Bonaventure metro via Place Bonaventure )
- Centre CDP Capital
- W Hotel
- (Access to Metro Place - d'Armes via Palais des congrès )
- Canada Steamship Lines
- Hotel Intercontinental
- Hotel St. James
- Tour de la Bourse (Stock Exchange Montreal)
- Hotel Delta Centre -Ville
Metro Place - d'Armes
- Palais des congrès de Montréal (Access to Metro Square Victoria via Place de la Cité Internationale )
- (Access to Place-des -Arts metro via Complexe Desjardins )
Metro Place-des -Arts
- Complexe Desjardins Hotel Hyatt Regency
- (Access to Metro Place - d'Armes Complexe Guy- Favreau via )
- Président - Kennedy
- Sherbrooke
- Arts IV
- Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal
Not interconnected segments
Metro Berri -UQAM
- Université du Québec à Montréal Judith - Jasmin
- Athanase - David
- Hubert Aquin
Metro Guy- Concordia
- Concordia University Guy Metro Annex
- Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Complex
- John Molson School of Business
- JW McConnell Library
Metro Atwater ( Westmount )
- Place Alexis Nihon
- Westmount Square
- Dawson College