Vents sticking out of the ground; any ideas?

First, I'm not quite sure which forum this fits into, so to the moderators: please feel free to place it somewhere more appropriate.

The following photo was taken today in Montreal:



full, uncropped picture here

There is a bicycle path beside a railway (3 tracks in all, one used to temporarily park wagons). This section of the bike path is about 3 kilometers (almost 2 miles) long. You have one of these every 500 meters (0.3 miles) or so. The brown building you see further to the right is about 200 meters (200 yards) away; it is the closest building to this vent. The fence to the right surrounds an empty lot which is currently being decontaminated. The tracks are on the left, on the other side of the fence.

These vents can be found regularly, as I said, every 500 meters or so, regardles of whether there are any buildings or not around and they are all identical.

Montreal supposedly has the biggest tunnel system of any city, but this photo was taken about 3-4 kilometers (2-2.5 miles) from any known tunnels, except for the metro. The path does intersect the metro at one point. Still, at the furthest, you end up with a vent almost 2 kilometers away; quite a long way to vent out the metro tunnel, I would think.

These units are made of concrete and are about 3.5 feet high. There's a vent on one side only (always the same side), the rest is quite featurless except for some graffiti on a few of them.

The weather became drastically warmer this past week: up to a week ago, these things were almost completely covered in snow. You couldn't see the grills anymore. Which means there's certainly no warm air coming out of them and no air could go into them either.

The only thing I can think of, and I don't know if it makes any sense, would be that these would serve for the drainage system. There's a sewer pipe under the bike path to pick up rain water. The sewer holes (you can see one on the left) are a few inches higher than the path, but since it's dirt, it can be the wear and tear of the years that has brought the level of the path below that of the sewer covers.

I don't expect that these are part of a grand dark design; they probably have a very mundane explanation, but as I've been going by these twice a day for over a year, they have piqued my curiosity. Anyone have any ideas?

edited to add link to full picture

[edit on 9-4-2008 by ajmusicmedia]

Is there a landfill nearby? They could be vents from that, so that methane doesn't build up underground and cause an explosion. Though usually vents for that are candy cane shaped pipes.

reply to post by ajmusicmedia


since you mentioned a sewer nearby, this is probably the reason. explosive gases can build up very quickly in a sewer line. and they are made of concrete, because the previous ones might have been damaged too easily for cost effectiveness. also there might be gas and/or power line conduits buried underground, these need to be ventilated for much the same reeason. a trip to your cities planning commission should have public records of these lines. if they don't or they they won't for some strange reason, let you look at them, then i would investigate further, otherwise these are pretty benign.

I know these will be fairly mundane, good on you for not jumping to conclusions about it being some hidden underground base run by reptilians.... but could you give us a link on googlemaps? maybe an ariel shot of the area might help work out what its for.

block it up and see what happens

i have to agree with a previous poster,
go to your local planning dept, they should have a record of the works in the area in question.

snoopyuk

You mentioned 'except for the metro' in the OP.
Subway/Metro systems need extensive ventilation. Otherwise we would die down there. Either way, this blog article might help, if not still a good read for those with their minds underground. DRAINS OF CANADA: AN INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL COOK

If you are interested in underground/urban exploration, one of my favorite sites is www.infiltration.org....

I went to school in Chicago for a while and found about extensive tunnels there. Never was able to get down into them, but there is a website documenting them. Chicago Tunnel Company Railroad Home Page. I also can't find the link, but there was an article about these young Parisians that have been 'renovating' the Paris Catacombs. If I can find I will post... It was maybe 6 months ago.

We have to realize that many older cities have massive underground spaces (literally and figuratively!), sometimes even building their 'modern' streets one story up to provide spaces to route the city's 'essentials'. There are actually many people out there exploring, instead of being on the internet 'freaked out'. en.wikipedia.org... But whatever you do, be careful! Sometimes even talking about it can draw 'too much' attention, for somebody, somewhere, somehow... I hope you follow...

DocMoreau

PS...
I can sort of recommend www.frozencrystal.com... but they are not just underground, but somewhat forbidden spaces as well. It also hasn't been updated for a while. However, here is their disclaimer.

Disclaimer:
The purpose of [The Frozen Crystal Underground] is to allow people at home (like you) to see places you wouldn't normally ever see and to provide you with an entertaining story while we're at it. What is depicted on this site is often dangerous, illegal, and definitely not something you should try. Frozen (me) and FrozenCrystal.com does not promote this risky behavior and strongly advises against exploring any of the places herein depicted.

Note about the dates:
Got a date? For your information, dates on this site do not relate to the date explored. They are the date of when I uploaded the photos to my computer and got around to writing some stuff about it. This means they are only accurate within half a year, if that.

Apparently, they draw a lot of search engine traffic for the following search terms:

Some trivia: Top 5 search strings with which people found this site:

disgusting bathroom
dungeon
urinals
teenage mutant ninja turtles splinter
underground tunnels

So I wouldn't really call it a 'news source' or any sort of real repository of any 'solid evidence' but fun to poke around at the very least.

[edit on 10/4/2008 by DocMoreau]

those things are to vent out steam and / or explosive gases I don't really see them being part of any conspiracy, it would be too obvious

Phoenix Arizona has similar ubiquitous 1.5 cubic meter structures,

but they are well known as part of the subterranian irrigation canals
that networks throughout the city.

The photo indicate that these 'vents' are in the area of the
'Right-Of-Way'
so i'd say these 'vents' are not likely to be just vertical shafts...
but whatever they are venting must be offset
-probably deep beneath the center-line of the roadway-


betcha they are access spaces where utility workers can decend
to the major links or trunks for cable/telephone/fiberoptic/electric
as some examples.
It would seem an inconspicuous 4" vent pipe would suffice for
venting off toxic gasses somewhat above the waist high vent fins
shown in the photo.


thanks

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts; I appreciate it. I will do some snooping around at the city records. I still think there's nothing too it. They may be overdone simply because they are government contracts.

Here are some answers or comments on your questions/comments:

tebyen
"Is there a landfill nearby? They could be vents from that, so that methane doesn't build up underground and cause an explosion."

Nope, no landfills around.

jimmyx
"since you mentioned a sewer nearby, this is probably the reason. explosive gases can build up very quickly in a sewer line. and they are made of concrete, because the previous ones might have been damaged too easily for cost effectiveness. also there might be gas and/or power line conduits buried underground, these need to be ventilated for much the same reeason."

The sewer is for rain-water only. No gas buildups. And as I mentionned, the vents were covered with snow for a good part of the winter: this is one of the points that bothers me the most. As for power line conduits, good idea, but probably none on the bike path, here's why:

The track seperates two areas of the city. To the north of the tracks is Rosemont: population 85,000. To the south, Plateau Mont-Royal: population 107,000 living in 7 square kilometers. This is the most densely populated area in North America. I live there and you'd never believe that there are so many people. It's the artistic part of the city, low crime-rate and a great place to live and/or raise a family. Anyway, all this to say that there are so many streets and buildings, that power lines, when underground (a lot of them aren't) would be a lot more effective going by the streets rather than the bike path. At least it would seem so.

freakyclown
"could you give us a link on googlemaps? maybe an ariel shot of the area might help work out what its for"

I'm not used to working with googlemaps very much, but try typing in: h2g1v8 This is a postal code for a building roughly in the middle of the area I'm talking about. If you have street name overlays, the area is between "Masson" to the East and follow "des carrières" until it makes a 90 degree turn to the North. It works when I try it. And no, it's not my postal code; as mentionned above, I live south of the tracks...

Acidtastic
"block it up and see what happens"

Funny... But as I mentionned, they spent some time completely covered in snow and nothing happened.

DocMoreau
"Subway/Metro systems need extensive ventilation. Otherwise we would die down there."

Agreed, but the Montreal metro is entirely electric (if you've ever seen the movie "Jackal" with Bruce Willis and Richard Gere, the scene at the end in the subway is filmed in the Montreal metro). Ventilation systems are usualy found within a 500 meter radius of a station, not 2 Ks. No gas to exhaust.

"Sometimes even talking about it can draw 'too much' attention"

I also think it's good to have a healthy dose of paranoia. I can't remember who said: Paranoia is an enhanced sense of awareness... Thanks for the links, I will explore!

hypr2008
"those things are to vent out steam and / or explosive gases I don't really see them being part of any conspiracy, it would be too obvious"

Steam/gas: as mentionned above. As for it being "too obvious", I don't buy that. Lots of people go by there everyday. Hundreds of people a day in summer. People see a ventilation shaft and simply don't think twice about it.

St Udio
"betcha they are access spaces where utility workers can decend
to the major links or trunks for cable/telephone/fiberoptic/electric
as some examples"

Theses are concrete and have no openings whatsoever. The only part that can be taken out is the vent itself and this is too small to allow someone in. These are locked by very large bolts. Much too big for simply holding the grill in place, but probably this size to keep people from taking them off

I have managed with your directions to narrow it down to about here
Clicky

could you be more specific using that link above hten select "link to this page" and paste the url here.

The image quality is pretty poor round that area which is a pain.

If I did this right, this is the exact portion. If you follow the railroad (which looks like a large grey road), this is the part where the bike path is and where the vents are.

clickety-clic

Thanks!

[edit on 16-4-2008 by ajmusicmedia]