Who says first snow, says more complicated trips. Congestion was much denser on Wednesday across the metropolitan area as it received its first snowflakes. Traffic was particularly difficult on the Metropolitan Autoroute, the Décarie Autoroute and Autoroute 25.
From the start of the day, the passage times in the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel, where three lanes out of six will be closed until 2025, were particularly long.
In the direction of the South Shore, it then took more than an hour to cover the 10 kilometers from boulevard Viau to the entrance to the tube. In the opposite direction, towards Montreal, it took 25 minutes to cover the 22 kilometers between Beloeil and the tunnel.
Traffic was also quite heavy when returning home at the end of the day, when once the snow fell, the authorities reported travel times of around 40 to 50 minutes on several major highways, including the Metropolitan and Highway 25 southbound, towards the La Fontaine tunnel.
Traffic in Greater Montreal
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In the metro, the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), however, has not reported any major slowdown in its service. Elsewhere in the province, note that traffic was denser in Sherbrooke, but remained relatively fluid in Trois-Rivières and Quebec.
Traffic in Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivières and Quebec
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Increase in public transport
Otherwise, the first storm seems to have prompted many people to rely on public transport rather than their car. At least, in Montreal and Longueuil. The STM reported Wednesday morning a 12% increase in entries at the Longueuil–Université-de-Sherbrooke station and 13% at Radisson. Despite this increase, the Montreal carrier has not noticed any overload on its network.
The Réseau de transport de Longueuil also observed a 23% increase in the number of passengers in the buses set up in the axis of the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel.
On the other hand, the ridership of exo, which serves more distant suburban towns on the island, was down. The number of passengers on the Saint-Hilaire train line was down 18% compared to last week. “The first snowfalls of the season have a significant impact on train ridership since many people decide to stay at home,” the carrier justified itself in this regard.
Complications on the road network
Overall, the first snow caused its share of complications on the road network on Wednesday morning, the conditions being much more difficult in certain sectors of Greater Montreal. Early in the day, an accident involving several vehicles occurred on Highway 15 northbound, just before Curé-Labelle Boulevard in Laval. Lanes had to be closed.
The Highway 50 East ramp for Highway 15 North also had to be temporarily closed due to “difficult road conditions” and an “icy road surface”, reported the Ministère des Transports et de la Mobilité durable (MTMD). ) on the Quebec511 Twitter account.
In Montreal, however, the snow was not abundant enough to justify clearing in most streets, explained Philippe Sabourin, administrative spokesman for the City. No major accident was reported on the municipal network.
Our streets are asphalt. The priority for our teams is above all the sidewalks. […] We also intervene on sloping streets to ensure that it is not slippery. But unless the situation changes, there is no need to clear our streets.
Philippe Sabourin, administrative spokesperson for the City of Montreal
The first snowfall of the cold season allowed blue-collar workers to readapt smoothly to their winter tasks “These are great conditions. It is a beautiful first contact with the snow. It went well: we have the equipment, we have the staff, added Mr. Sabourin. Despite the fact that not everyone has their winter tires, things are going well. »
Adapt your driving
In the Laurentians, in the Grenville-sur-la-Rouge sector, a pileup involving six vehicles also forced the closure of Highway 50 in both directions at the start of the day.
At the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), “about ten material collisions” were reported on Wednesday in Greater Montreal. “People are asked to adapt their driving to road conditions, and if they are able, to delay travel. It is also necessary to clear snow from your vehicle, and monitor the state of the road network, ”said spokesperson Marythé Bolduc.
The Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, assured that her teams “maintain [le] clear and safe network”, also calling for winter tires to be installed. These must be installed before 1er December of this year, until March 15. “Our teams are on the ground to ensure safe travel for the entire population,” finally noted the mayoress of Montreal, Valérie Plante.
With the collaboration of Pierre-André Normandin, The Press