(Quebec) Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault believes that it makes “no sense” that people have missed their flights due to a monster traffic jam caused by work at her department, but she has few solutions to offer, if only to have the reflex of “find information at 511” for motorists.
“When I see people walking around with their suitcases on the shoulders of the highway because they are afraid of missing their flight, and for some who have unfortunately missed their flight, I find that it does not make good sense. “said M.me Guilbault during a press scrum on Wednesday.
She was reacting to the monster congestion that paralyzed on Highway 20 which caused delays for travelers heading to Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau airport.
For example, a group of college students missed their flight to Athens, and other travelers like Nicole Beaulieu and her husband Gilles, missed their flight to France and had to buy $1,700 tickets to go on vacation.
Solution 511
Mme Guilbault stresses, however, that the work on the Saint-Pierre interchange, which caused this traffic jam, was necessary. “It’s the same thing every year, always the construction season, we have no choice in maintaining our roads, our highways, our bridges. There is a mobility challenge every year when we start the construction season,” she explained.
She says she is “thinking about the best means of communication” to stimulate the “reflex to go and find out about 511”. It is necessary that “people develop this reflex of going to find out about construction sites and planning their trips accordingly,” she said. Mme Guilbault also believes that its new policy of removing orange cones from sites that have been inactive for more than 72 hours would improve mobility.
In Montreal, this famous construction season has barely begun. For next weekend, for example, the Ville-Marie highway will be closed in both directions and work will take place on Highway 40.