walk along Decaire Service Road Montreal

Décaire Service Road along the Décairie Freeway is a special environment best appreciated on foot. One can see what happened when a freeway ran through a section of the city, cutting it in two and creating open space, noise and desolation. It sometimes feels like standing on the edge or the shore of the city, gazing out into somewhere. Under the open sky, surfaces are often over exposed in the bright light. There are a lot of sunken entrances. To enter, one goes down a few steps. This matches the sunken freeway. Cairie is cavity in French. In a way, the freeway is like a cavity in the ground. The freeway acts as a major traffic artery. Sidewalks along each side make it pedestrian friendly for the most part. To offset the sinking feeling, apartment blocks tower up on each side of the freeway. As the weather changes or the sun shifts position in the sky, interesting light effects occur on the windows and surfaces of the towers.