Motorists have found an option to avoid the chaos caused by the repair work on the La Fontaine bridge-tunnel for months in the east of Montreal: the Saint-Ignace-de-Loyola/Sorel-Tracy crossing, one hour from the!
In fact, there are several of them, so much so that the new Saint-Ignace river station, very close to Berthierville, is overwhelmed these days despite the recent addition of 80 spaces for vehicles waiting to take the ferry to Sorel-Tracy on the south bank of the river.
“Last weekend, it was overflowing with motorists who were waiting on the shoulder to the church [à un kilomètre de là] to go take the boat, we have two years in this situation because of the work on the tunnel, ”explained Jean-Luc Barthe, the mayor of Saint-Ignace-de-Loyola, in a telephone interview.
Simon Dessureault / QMI AGENCY
“And instead of going to wait to take the Jacques-Cartier bridge or any other bridge, they come here to cross to the other side to take the 30, it’s faster for them,” said added the mayor.
We went to the Saint-Ignace-de-Loyola river station on Thursday and spoke to several motorists who confirmed this situation.
“I recently went through the La Fontaine tunnel and I never want to go there again, I want to avoid the chaos of Montreal,” told us Diane Aussant, who was coming from Terrebonne to go to the South Shore.
Simon Dessureault / QMI AGENCY
“I prefer to take a detour and pay $16 for my ticket, confided to us Sylvain Pilon, who had left Repentigny to deliver sausages to Sorel and who would have taken the bridge-tunnel, a route faster than usual. I had only taken the ferry once or twice in the past.”
A lady and her two children even arrived from Estérel, in the Laurentians. “It’s more pleasant to come and take the boat and have a view of the river than to be stuck in traffic,” Sophie Bélanger told us.
Simon Dessureault / QMI AGENCY
The new Saint-Ignace-de-Loyola river station inaugurated at the end of June in the presence of the Minister of Transport, François Bonnardel, now offers seven entry lanes with two ships in operation (and one in reserve). Mayor Barthe told us that some 115 vehicles can now park in the waiting area, while the old station only had two tracks with the possibility of accommodating 30-35 cars in the queue. .
“The two crossing stations are new [NDLR: la nouvelle gare de Sorel-Tracy a été inaugurée en août 2019] and we are working a lot on the customer experience to encourage people to use this alternative,” said Simon Laboissonnière, communications manager at the Société des traversiers du Québec (STQ), also confirming the impact of the tunnel work on the increased traffic at the crossing.
Free
Mayor Barthe also advocates free service.
“We’ve wanted to have free admission for years, says Mr. Barthe, while the crossing between Sorel-Tracy and Saint-Ignace-de-Loyola is the second busiest in Quebec, after that of Tadoussac. If it becomes free, it would become the busiest.”