The Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel is deteriorating faster than expected and Quebec is forced to begin a “major” repair of this critical artery. In order to carry out this reconstruction, three lanes out of six will be closed for the next three years.
Starting this fall, only one traffic tube will be open at a time. In the still open tube, only one lane will be open towards the South Shore and two towards Montreal. “This configuration will remain in place until 2025”, specifies the Ministry of Transport.
Every day, approximately 120,000 vehicles use the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel, 13% of which are trucks. This route is the most used for transporting goods between the South Shore and Montreal.
“I won’t hide my disappointment at this bad news, but unfortunately we have no choice but to proceed in this way,” commented the Minister of Transport, François Bonnardel.
“Mitigation measures” will be put in place to compensate for the traffic created by this upheaval, promises the ministry.
This new project increases the bill for work already in progress by 900 million dollars. The ministry speaks of a “major structural repair”, a modernization of “operating equipment” and a redevelopment of “service corridors”, in particular.
After this facelift, the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel should last another 40 years without major intervention.
More details will follow.
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