New tile for the Île-aux-Tourtes bridge. The latter will lose a third track on Monday due to the appearance of an additional crack. The infrastructure will also be closed this weekend to implement the new track configuration, which is likely to be in place for a year.
This was announced by the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility (MTMD) on Friday during a technical briefing. Quebec maintains that analyzes carried out in recent days, in reaction to the appearance of a new crack which was discovered last week, revealed “the need to close an additional lane”.
In short, of the six lanes of the bridge, only three will remain, since two others were already closed. The measure aims to “reduce the loads on the structure until the completion of reinforcement work which will ensure the integrity and safety of the infrastructure, while avoiding complete closure”, it is said.
The bridge will close from 11:59 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday to implement a new lane configuration. As of 5 a.m. Monday, only three of the bridge’s six lanes will remain open. Two of these lanes will allow travel in the direction of the point, i.e. in the morning towards Montreal and in the evening towards Vaudreuil-Dorion.
Please note: heavy vehicles will be able to continue to circulate, but must “respect the loads displayed” at the entrance to the bridge.
Inaugurated in 1965, the Île-aux-Tourtes bridge is now reaching the end of its useful life. It has been experiencing structural problems for several years and is the subject of an overall reconstruction due to be completed at the end of 2026. In April, The Press reported that the bill to rebuild this bridge in the west of the metropolis will amount to almost a billion more than expected, a surge of 65%. The total bill to replace this two-kilometer bridge would be 2.3 billion.
At least one year of work
In the short term, everything indicates that the bridge maintenance challenge will be very great, since at present, the government estimates “that at least one year of work would be required before considering reopening the roads”. That said, a precise timeline cannot be provided at this time; the government claims to be evaluating “all options that would make it possible to speed up the work”.
The ministry also says it is aware that the new configuration of the roads “will have significant repercussions on users’ travel times”.
Therefore, when possible, we recommend that citizens favor public transport or even telework in the coming weeks, or even the coming months, until the situation stabilizes.
On Highway 30, the toll system will be suspended on Highway 30 during the weekend, November 25 and 26. As of Monday, however, the authorities are inviting motorists to use Highway 20, especially in the opposite direction to peak traffic, to avoid overloading the only lane that will be open on the Île-aux-Tourtes bridge in this direction. .
In the Highway 20 sector, “monitoring will be carried out to optimize the programming of traffic lights, and the police presence will be increased to facilitate travel,” assures Quebec.
Several other mitigation measures are also being considered. For example, discussions are underway to improve commuter train service on the exo 11 Vaudreuil-Hudson line. Quebec is considering adding one departure for each peak period, one more in the morning to Montreal and another at the end of the day to Vaudreuil-Dorion.
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- 81,000
- The Île-aux-Tourtes bridge has an average traffic of 81,000 vehicles per day, significantly more than its neighbor, the Galipeault bridge, which accommodates 52,000.