When cold weather creates a steady stream of McGill University Health Centre patients and employees treking through the busy underground parking lot to reach the hospital,with pedestrians are sometimes dodging passing cars as they use an emergency exit, according to an article on the Montreal Gazette website.

The emergency exit at the back of the hospital’s parking lot opens to a metro station, but the exit was never designed for the heavy volume of pedestrians who have been using it as part of a makeshift tunnelin the absence of a real one. 

The emergency alarm has tripped so many times that it was deactivated, and the door has been kept open as January winter temperatures have plunged. A narrow car lane in the underground parking lot crosses right in front of the emergency exit, and despite the presence of additional stop signs, visibility is far from ideal for some passing motorists.

In addition, the parking lot’s asphalt changes to tiles once pedestrians walk through the exit into the tunnel that leads to both the metro and a commuter train station. With so much winter foot traffic, the tiles tend to become slushy and slippery.

Read the article.