Motorists in Greater Montreal were treated to a calm day on Saturday before the real ordeal began due to work in the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine bridge-tunnel, starting Monday, for the return to the office.
Despite a few incidents on the roads, traffic was rather fluid in Montreal and its surroundings. Quite the opposite of the previous weekend, when a traffic jam of several kilometers surprised more than one Saturday afternoon, on Route 132 near Longueuil.
“People saw what had happened, so they were able to plan their trips more consistently,” explains Gilles Payer, spokesperson for the Quebec Ministry of Transport (MTQ).
Courtesy picture
Gilles Payer. MTQ spokesperson
It is rather in the west of the metropolis where motorists had to take their troubles more patiently, on the Île-aux-Tourtes bridge.
Until Monday morning, repairs to the chemin des Pins overpass are in progress, causing the closure of the A40 east, between boulevard des Anciens-
Fighters and the next exit.
“There is a detour via the service road. From the moment you have to slow down on the highway, people suddenly brake and cut, which causes a traffic jam that can last. However, this is not new, the works have been there every weekend for a while,” specifies Mr. Payer.
In preparation for Monday
On the side of the bridge-tunnel, the MTQ teams are hard at work to be ready for the start of work on Monday.
“They are going to install nearly 4,000 meters of concrete slides, in addition to erasing the old white marks on the ground, cites the spokesperson as an example. They are also in the process of connecting the new diversion ramps to travel southbound in the other tube. »
“It’s not far from 60 hours of continuous work”, he drops.
In the direction of Montreal, the works have already been in place since the beginning of the week with two lanes out of three to circulate.
“We saw this week that it was liveable. We predicted that the time to reach the entrance to the tunnel could increase up to three times and we did not reach that, or only very rarely,” explains Gilles Payer.
The big changes will be more in the direction of the South Shore, while motorists will have a single lane rather than three to drive from Monday.
“Mondays are always quieter since teleworking is widespread. If Monday is good, beware of Tuesday. Two to three weeks of adaptation are expected. »