Tuesday, Audrey-Anne Petit has planned the coup. She left her house in Repentigny and went to her mother’s house, in the borough of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, to spend the night there. Its goal ? Avoid Wednesday morning congestion to go to the South Shore from the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel.
“I’m going to go to my mom’s house two nights a week, see how it’s going traffic-wise and if that helps,” she said. A situation that would have happened to the 28-year-old woman, who is returning to school at Cégep Édouard-Montpetit, in Longueuil, to become a dental hygienist.
His decision to spend the night with his mother was the right one. Traffic was heavy Wednesday morning to get to the South Shore. The vehicles were driving bumper to bumper on Highway 25 south from the 40, just like on the ramp to access the 25 from the east, therefore from Repentigny.
When we join Mme Small at the Radisson metro at 6:45 a.m. on Sherbrooke Street, the incentive parking lot is already full. Her mother’s residence is not very far, and it is at this height that she can take the highway to get to CEGEP and thus avoid a good deal of traffic.
On the 25, many trucks are frozen in the heaviness of traffic, and the red brake lights sparkle in the darkness, while the sun rises quietly. Small cars like Audrey-Anne’s try as best they can to squeeze between two large vehicles to access the two lanes of the 25, before entering the tunnel which narrows to one lane.
But the maneuver takes long minutes. As she tries to slip to the left, a truck driver, who we guess is overwhelmed by the traffic, speeds up and does not let her pass. “People are aggressive,” says Audrey-Anne.
It will take about twenty minutes to cross the tunnel, among the vehicles which drive slowly, but without stopping. She will be able to arrive at the CEGEP on time, around 7:30 a.m. A relief for the young woman, who is nevertheless worried about future snowstorms or accidents that will inevitably end up occurring.
Taking public transport is an option she could turn to, but it is more complicated. “Today, I finish my internship at noon and then I have an hour to get to work, explains the one who would then have to take two buses in addition to the metro. I would lose hours of work. »