Advertisement

St-Henri residents jolted awake by overnight paving work on St-Jacques

Click to play video: 'Sleepless in Saint-Henri'
Sleepless in Saint-Henri
WATCH: Saint-Henri residents say noisy construction woke them up in the middle of the night. As Global's Dan Spector reports, the Southwest borough says they were authorized to do the work after hours – but they concede they should have informed residents – Jun 29, 2018

Seeing your street freshly paved is usually a good thing, but not for people living near the corner of St. Jacques and Rose-de-Lima in St-Henri.

“By the time I got to bed, it was starting to be light out, so yeah, I’m a little frustrated,” said Nathalie Malartre, who lives in an apartment building on St. Jacques.

She and other residents were shocked to be woken up by workers re-paving St-Jacques between Rose-de-Lima and Greene overnight.

“It’s very nicely done work, but still, it was extremely disturbing for the night. There was intense noise until about 2:30 a.m.,” said Patrick Martin-Menard, who lives in the same building.

READ MORE: St-Henri residents losing patience with truck safety on Rose-de-Lima

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

“We got a bit of peace at around 2:30 in the morning. They were asphalting all night,” Malartre said. She lives on the first floor of the building and said her floors were shaking.

Story continues below advertisement

The residents said they were not given any advance warning from the city, prompting some to go outside to ask workers what was going on.

“People started to talk to them and they were very rude,” Malartre said. “If we would just know ahead of time, all this communication and the rudeness from the construction workers wouldn’t have to be.”

So what possibly could have lead the city to do paving work at 2 a.m.? Work is only scheduled to take place between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., the city’s website says.

“You know, on Notre-Dame east, they block half the street off, they work 9 to 5 and it’s causing major traffic. Why in this case do they need to do intensive night work like this?” Martin-Menard wondered.

READ MORE: Residents concerned about wasp infestation at Pointe-Saint-Charles park

A spokesperson for the Southwest borough tells Global News workers were authorized to do the work after hours. With all the traffic and construction going on in the neighbourhood, they just wanted to get it done. The city concedes it should have sent out notices to let residents know what was happening, but did not.

“If you’re going to do such a big work in the middle of the night, give us a notice,” Malartre said. “When they cut the water, they do other things, they give a notice so we’re prepared.”

Story continues below advertisement

For the next while, people in the area will be sleeping with one ear open.

Sponsored content

AdChoices