The Bonaventure Expressway will become a boulevard | The Press

Objectives: return the shore of the St. Lawrence to Montrealers and calm traffic

Users of Montreal’s two most important bridges may have to be patient over the next few years, as Ottawa plans major projects around them.

The federal company that manages the Jacques-Cartier and Samuel-De Champlain bridges recently revealed that it intended to transform the Bonaventure highway into an urban boulevard between 2025 and 2029. This project includes the complete demolition of the current structure. The project had been in the works for almost a decade. Objectives: return the shore of the St. Lawrence to Montrealers and calm traffic on this artery.

“We are currently in design, the drawings are being produced. We also have work to strengthen the banks which will be carried out from 2024,” confirmed Nathalie Lessard, spokesperson for the Jacques-Cartier and Champlain Bridges Incorporated (PJCCI). The new artery will take the place of Carrie-Derrick Street, a few dozen meters towards the interior of the island.

Bonaventure will maintain three lanes of traffic in each direction, but the maximum speed will drop to 60 km/h, according to current plans. “We decided to keep full capacity in the sector,” said M.^me Lessard.

The new “green corridor will include a new 4 m wide cycle path, as well as a dedicated pedestrian path”, indicates JCCBI in the description of the project which it has just posted online in the Canadian Property Assessment Register. impact. “On the other side of the boulevard, a sidewalk will run alongside the traffic lanes towards the Samuel-De Champlain bridge. » Some 650 trees should be planted.

The firms CIMA+, AECOM and Daoust Lestage are at the drawing board.

Major work under the Jacques-Cartier Bridge

Workers will also be active near the Jacques-Cartier Bridge in the coming years.

JCCBI also revealed this week that it was beginning major renovation work on the Île Sainte-Hélène pavilion, the emblematic Art Deco building which supports the Jacques-Cartier Bridge.

“Over the years, multiple renovation works have ensured the sustainability of this building, which is more than 90 years old. Today, the pavilion shows signs of damage requiring new work,” diagnoses the federal company in a submission to the Canadian Impact Assessment Registry.

“This project therefore aims to extend the lifespan of the pavilion by 75 years, while retaining the main function of the building as the deck of a section of the bridge,” continues the description. “To allow this work to be carried out on the pavilion, short and long-term traffic restrictions will be necessary. These obstacles will provide the space deemed necessary to entrepreneurs. »

In addition to supporting the bridge, the building constructed in the early 1930s was intended to serve as an exhibition hall and ballroom, but these projects were never completed.

The work campaign initiated by JCCBI does not provide for any interior design of this building.

“It’s difficult to occupy this pavilion because as it is a structural element of the bridge, there is enormous noise inside, constant vibrations,” said Nathalie Lessard. Soundproofing that is difficult to envisage. »

The announcement of these federal projects is in addition to the numerous projects on the major highways of the metropolis. The renovation of the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel must last until the end of 2025. The Quebec Ministry of Transport must then undertake the reconstruction of the Metropolitan Autoroute in its elevated portion.