Major repair work on the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel, which connects eastern Montreal to the South Shore, began at 5 a.m. Monday and is expected to last until November 2025.
A greater than expected degradation of the tunnel vault is the reason for this important update. According to the Government of Quebec, the work will ensure the durability of the infrastructure for 40 years without further major intervention.
Only one lane is open towards the South Shore and two towards Montreal. Every day, some 120,000 vehicles travel through the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel.
Despite the mitigation measures put in place, travel times will inevitably be longer due to the partial closure of this major highway.
Shortly before dawn on Monday, road traffic reporters from a few news media observed a certain fluidity in the direction of Montreal. However, in Montreal, congestion was building up on the highway leading to the tunnel, from the Highway 40 junction.
Traffic was also monitored on the other bridges on the South Shore, the Jacques-Cartier, Victoria, Samuel-de-Champlain and Honoré-Mercier bridges.
Other obstacles have been added to the puzzle, including the postponement until next spring of the opening of the South Shore branch of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM), as well as the extension until the end of November of work carried out on the Victoria Bridge, on the west span.
The Ministère des Transports du Québec and the City of Montreal have established several mitigation measures to help people who used to cross the bridge-tunnel daily to find an alternative. Incentive parking lots have been set up along Highway 20 and their users will be entitled to a free bus shuttle service to the Radisson metro station, where they will be given free transit passes to take the metro.
An additional metro train has also been added to the yellow line, between the Longueuil—Université-de-Sherbrooke and Berri-UQAM stations.
Other bus additions have been planned in various affected areas.