I invite those who still doubt the relevance of mainstream media in this era of social networks to take a look at the soap opera of the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine bridge-tunnel.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
This is a project planned since 2019, on which many experts, officials and elected officials are supposed to have worked in order to avoid road Armageddon from Monday.
And yet, if you have read and watched the media reports on the issue for two weeks, it is obvious that many of them were sleeping on gas…
For the President of the Chamber of Commerce of Montreal to become an expert five days before D-Day, and for the Prime Minister to welcome with “openness” his idea of carpooling formulated at midnight minus one, we really have to be in the most total improvisation.
Every day, a new obstruction to traffic is revealed.
Every day, we appoint another “partner” who does his little business on his side without worrying about the impact on the road ecosystem.
Every day, we realize a little more that the coordination of all the players involved is just a fantasy.
All this because every day, the so-called traditional media reveal a little more the totally disorganized nature of the partial closure of the bridge-tunnel, which will begin tomorrow and end (we hope) in 2025.
The elected officials are reassuring on all the stands, repeating that everyone is collaborating and that mitigation measures have been planned, but it is difficult to understand who had their hands on the wheel and who was responsible for minimizing the damage.
We only learned last August that half of the tunnel lanes would be closed.
The City of Montreal says it did not have enough information or predictability from the government.
A significant portion of the 132 will be completely closed to traffic from November 4 to 7.
Traffic on the Victoria Bridge will be limited to one lane until the end of November.
The REM won’t be on track until next year.
Mobility Montreal’s decision-making body has had only one meeting in the past five years.
And the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, said Thursday “to think” about the question of trucking…
So many things you have learned in the written, audio and television media in recent weeks.
That, and the very wait-and-see nature of elected officials, both in Quebec and Montreal, who say they are ready to add reserved lanes, additional metro cars, additional measures… only if the need arises once the chaos has set in.
For example, it is difficult to understand how Minister Guilbault can think that “people will try to take their car” and then prefer public transit… if she waits to see what they will do to improve public transit!
Still, it was all predictable. We had already planned, The Pressassign a reporter specifically to this issue once the provincial elections are behind us.
That said, as we discover a little more about this government mismanagement every day and the future repercussions on you, the readers, we have decided to do a little more to accompany you, in particular by launching a newsletter on traffic in the coming days. (see box).
Because obviously, when the government tells us that it has planned and planned the closure of three of the six lanes of the bridge-tunnel, one can wonder about the importance given in high places to this project. And, therefore, on the real impact you will feel in your travels.
How, indeed, can we say that everything has been thought out upstream to reduce the effect of the work when we hear Prime Minister Legault invite companies to be flexible on schedules and face-to-face work, just a few days before closing?
As if the majority of companies and managers could change their operations overnight with a simple email to employees.
How can we understand that the party in power has devoted so much saliva, promises and political capital to a bridge-tunnel project in Quebec that may never see the light of day… when the planning for the imminent repair of an existing tunnel in Montreal was also inadequate?
As if a speculative project had more importance than the one that will force hundreds of thousands of citizens to review their habits.
How can we be made to believe that we have put the package in the alternative solutions when we hear the mayor of Montreal say that she will wait to see the reaction of motorists before adding metro cars outside hours peak ?
As if, in the end, the decision had been to wait for the worst to react.
We accompany you
You have been able to read the reports by Henri Ouellette-Vézina (and Léa Carrier on weekends, among others) since mid-October, to help you prepare for the traffic jams to come… and to help elected officials realize the magnitude of a problem they seem to have underestimated.
You have been able to read about the obstacles to be expected, the lack of coordination, the alternative solutions, the communication issues, teleworking, river shuttles, carpooling, trucking, etc.
And we will continue this intensive journalistic coverage over the next few weeks. We will accompany you in text and images thanks to our reporters and photographers in the field, our parliamentary correspondents in Quebec, our analyzes and editorials.
We will also be launching a new weekly newsletter this week to help you find your way through the obstacles and road maze of Greater Montreal.
In short, we will continue to accompany you on a daily basis, as we have been doing closely for several months on the financial issues that affect your portfolio.