Rosemont-Van Horne viaduct - Urban night

I live in the Mile End district of Montreal. One of the local landmarks is the Rosemont-Van Horne viaduct over the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks. The viaduct links Rosemont Boulevard on the east with Van Horne Avenue on the west.

The viaduct is part of a neighborhood transportation hub. Running under the viaduct are St-Laurent Boulevard, a bicycle path and the railway tracks. At the east end of the viaduct is the Rosemont metro station. I've passed under and over the viaduct hundreds of times on foot, by bike and by car. I've been fascinated by the mix of industrial buildings, factories, stores, bars and homes that lie in the shadow of the viaduct.

I took these pictures last Saturday night as I was walking home from a party in the Petite-Patrie distict on the north side of the viaduct. I was inspired by pictures of the Bridge Burner party that I'd seen at Hippopocampe, Eric Demay's blog. A stage was set up under the viaduct on June 24 to celebrate St-Jean-Baptiste Day. DJs Khiasma, Megasoid and Ghislain Poirier got the crowd dancing. Here's a video of the party by Anne-Marie Bergeron.

The area under the viaduct is so vast that I didn't actually locate the site of the Bridge Burner party until the day after I took these photographs, when I was cycling along the bike path that runs under the viaduct.

But my nighttime exploration made me think of Gilles Clément once more and his contention that unused urban land should be left to the forces of nature. The area under the viaduct has lush vegetation including bushes and trees. For several years, the Parc sans nom (Park without a name) was home to outdoor exhibitions organized by Dare-Dare, a multidisciplinary arts cooperative. And despite the existence of high fences along both sides of the railway tracks, an informal footpath winds through breaks in the fence to link Mile End directly with Petite-Patrie. When you walk along the path, you're on the route that lies at the heart of the Rosemont-Van Horne crossroads.