The traffic on the A20 caused by huge holes along the road should be reduced today, after a full day of work, says the Ministry of Transport of Quebec (MTQ).
• Read also: Highway 20 closed after the appearance of large holes
Emergency corrective work was well underway on Sunday, confirmed the MTQ on Twitter. Paving of the westbound lanes was underway by early evening. Transports Quebec announced, shortly after 10 p.m., the reopening of Highway 20 West. Eastbound, the reopening was to take place a few hours later.
Remember that on Saturday, three huge holes, one of which was approximately two meters in diameter, forced the complete closure of the Jean-Lesage highway in the Drummondville sector, in the Centre-du-Québec region, forcing motorists to make a detour of ten kilometers in the municipality.
Thousands of trucks
“It is certain that when traffic resumes, it will have a considerable impact. At the beginning of the week, we are talking about thousands of trucks passing through the 20, “said Marc Cadieux, CEO of the Quebec Trucking Association.
On average, the daily flow on this key link between Montreal and Quebec is 43,000 vehicles, indicated Mr. Bertrand. And this has already been felt in the city, where traffic has been much more difficult since Saturday.
“There are many, many, many cars on the boulevard. It’s really full, we’ve never seen that. The lights are really slow and since there is so much traffic, it’s red light after red light. It really creates a big traffic jam,” said Anaïs Mercier, receptionist at a hotel in Drummondville.
The newspaper himself spent 45 minutes stuck in rush hour traffic on Saturday. But even for short trips, travel time has doubled for some, like Catherine Labonté, an employee of a business on Saint-Joseph Boulevard.
Photo QMI Agency, Eric Beaupré
Work to secure Highway 20, in Centre-du-Québec, progressed smoothly on Sunday during the day and continued for a good part of the evening.
“We are located on the boulevard where the traffic is diverted. There are really a lot of people. Monday morning was not so bad, but it was more for going out on Sunday evening with the rush hours,” she said.