Bad news for users of the Île-aux-Tourtes bridge: the discovery of a new crack forces the closure of a lane towards Montreal for an indefinite period.
The two-lane configuration per direction, already in place over the weekend, will therefore be maintained on Monday in order to carry out analyses, the Ministry of Transport announced Friday evening.
“These will determine whether further interventions are required. At present, it cannot be ruled out that other traffic lanes may have to be closed,” it is explained.
The observation of this crack on the side towards Montreal was made as part of regular monitoring at a time when the Ministry said it was “particularly attentive” due to the first episodes of frost.
Interventions to strengthen this bridge, described as “at the end of its life” and which connects Senneville and Vaudreuil-Dorion, were already underway, with concrete work planned for this weekend.
The Ministry specifies that the structure remains “safe” and that it would not hesitate to close it if this were no longer the case.
Maintenance program
The Île-aux-Tourtes bridge is the subject of a maintenance program which includes work and inspections until its replacement is officially inaugurated.
But the “progressive” commissioning of this new bridge, which must be built to the north of the current infrastructure, will only begin in 2026 and be completed in 2029, according to what the Minister of Transport, Geneviève, indicated. Guilbault, in a press release released last February1.
The news of the closure of a lane on the Île-aux-Tourtes bridge for an indefinite period is a hard blow for its users, who have already endured this scenario in the past.
Indeed, from the fall of 2022, a year after emergency closure of the infrastructure due to damaged reinforcing rods, the Ministry of Transport said it noted “the progression of certain cracks” on a box girder on the north side of the bridge, towards Vaudreuil-Dorion.
A large project was then launched, forcing the closure of two lanes, including one for the safety of workers and flaggers. This last route was finally reopened last September2.