Automobile traffic was once again very dense on Sunday in several areas of Greater Montreal, due to several major obstacles. Quebec says, however, that the reality is “light years away” from the monster congestion that was observed last weekend in the West Island.
Certain “hot spots” were particularly in demand on Sunday. First: the Mercier bridge towards the Saint-Pierre interchange, where only one lane in each direction was open due to work, which generated a major bottleneck and heavy traffic.
“All this continued on the 138 West to the Saint-Pierre interchange, where the access ramp is closed. It was more full-bodied, ”explained the spokesperson for the Ministry of Transport, Gilles Payer, in an interview.
By mid-afternoon, traffic was also slow on highways 40-West and 15-North. On Highway 20 eastbound, just before the Turcot interchange, heavy congestion was also observed early in the afternoon, over a distance of just over two kilometers at times.
“We are talking about a total loss of time of more or less 10 minutes, but it varies depending on the time of day. It pushes back especially from Angrignon, so it’s fluid, but it’s still going slowly because of the bottleneck that is there too, ”continued Mr. Payer in this sense.
In the city center, avenue Papineau was strongly obstructed to get to the Jacques-Cartier bridge, the closure of the Ville-Marie tunnel combined with that of avenue Souligny limiting travel in the sector.
For the rest, Mr. Payer affirms that traffic is “running well” on the network in general, even if unpredictable events can always complicate the situation. Again on Sunday, accidents forced the closure of lanes on highways 15, 40, 640 and 25, to name a few. On the A20-Est, precisely, a vehicle on fire in exit 62 had also caused its share of congestion on Saturday evening.
Normal disturbances as they are called, for example broken down vehicles, always cause surprise traffic. It was the same on Saturday. This stuff is unpredictable.
Gilles Payer, spokesperson for the Ministry of Transport
Less worse than a week ago
One thing is certain, however: the network “is light years away” from what was observed last weekend, assures Mr. Payer.
Last Saturday and Sunday, hundreds of passengers had waited for hours in a monster traffic jam caused, among other things, by the closure of the access ramp from Route 138 to the A20. A group of 29 CEGEP students and four adults notably missed their flight to Athens on Saturday due to heavy congestion near the airport, like several other citizens elsewhere.
“Last week, the big issue was that the only detour location was moderately efficient. Montreal-Toronto Boulevard is not a fast lane, it had its limits, so it overflowed. We expected a half-hour delay, but it got out of hand, ”concedes the spokesperson.
The latter recalls that the ministry is still preparing a “post mortem” of this catastrophic weekend, precisely. “We consult all partners, including police services and network partners. We even watch videotapes to see how it went and how we can do better next time, because there will be one,” concludes Mr. Payer.