For the better part of a decade, South Shore commuters have quietly benefited from a service offered by David Lahache. Lahache offers real-time traffic information through a Facebook page with more than 5,000 members.
“I have access to some information at the Ministry of Transport. And I just started putting it on a Facebook page and made it accessible to everyone,” he said during a ride-along with Global News. The Facebook page updates traffic information in the Mercier Bridge area and the Turcot interchange.
According to Paul Graif, news director of K103.7 radio, the page is a huge resource for the radio station — and fills an innovative niche because there are no cameras on the south side of the Mercier Bridge, which itself is administrated in different sections by federal and provincial authorities.
Lahache’s work updating the page is not really a hobby — it does fit into work he does for the Mohawk Council — but it isn’t quite an occupation either. He thinks of it as a community service. And it’s real time, he says. “People are on the road and they’re going to be providing you with updates.”
The page promises to be a watched resource for information in the summer, when roadwork is slated to begin on the Mercier Bridge.
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