Former Montreal radio reporter named city's 1st traffic co-ordinator

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre has named former traffic reporter Pierre Lacasse as the city's first traffic co-ordinator, a position that will entailorganizingconstruction blitzes and informing residents about road closures.

Lacasse, who reported on traffic and road conditions in Montreal for28 years, will serve as the city's traffic spokesperson,bringing residents' concerns about traffic to city council.

He will earn an annual salary of $100,000.

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"Communication is the essence when we're talking about traffic, right?" said Coderre during a news conference on Wednesday morning."By having Mr. Lacasse, I think that's a plus."

The announcement comes as Montreal moves forward with a 10-year plan to fixits crumbling infrastructure, including repairing sewers, aqueducts and roads.

Lacasse will be an advisor to local officials on how to ease congestion inconstruction zones, identifying problem routesand mitigatingstreet closuresfor pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.

As part of his duties, Lacassewill also co-ordinate withpublic works and event organizers to prevent traffic jams around work sitesand festivals.

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"You're on a street and you have to make a detour to go on another street to avoid road work and you arrive on the other street and it's closed again," said Lacasse.

"So that's what I'm going try to do, to not make those two streets closed together."