Transport Quebec mulling over Sources-Highway 20 overpass plans
Once marked for replacement, the Sources Blvd.-Highway 20 interchange will take on diminished traffic until 2018, when Quebec’s Ministry of Transport plans to repair two ramps on the 47-year-old structure.
Overall repairs to the rest of the interchange will follow two years later, in 2020, said Transports Québec spokesperson Sarah Bensadoun.
“We’re not talking about rebuilding the interchange, we’re talking about repairing the interchange, so we can keep it functioning for the next 15 years or so,” she said.
Transports Québec restricted traffic on two ramps in May last year — down to one lane from two on an off-ramp from southbound Sources to Highway 20 West, and down to one lane at the on-ramp from Highway 20 East to northbound Sources.
Adding to these changes, as of June 1 this year the department restricted heavy vehicles weighing five tonnes or more from using the off-ramp from southbound Sources to Highway 20 West.
Heavy trucks heading south on Sources must take a detour on Highway 20 East to the Dorval Circle before they can head west on the 20.
Built in 1970, the interchange is one of several throughout Montreal Island that Transports Québec marked as due for replacement in recent years. The structure straddles the cities of Pointe-Claire and Dorval, and carries traffic over cargo and commuter train lines.
The department put off proposed plans to rebuild the structure in 2014, and decided earlier this year to repair what’s in place instead of building a new interchange from the ground up.
The department reduced traffic on the two ramps at the western ends of the structure last year “for safety purposes,” Bensadoun said. Concrete barriers on the ramps narrow traffic down to one lane “to reduce the weight on the actual structure.”
“These (restrictions) will be maintained until we do the work that is planned next year,” she said. “We will work on the ramps where there are restrictions, first — that’s going to be our priority.”
Transports Québec is now working out plans and specifications for the ramps, which “will guide contractors that may be interested in doing the work,” Bensadoun said.
The exact timelines on next year’s work won’t be known until the department settles on a contractor in its calls for tender process, Bensadoun noted.
Traffic restrictions at the interchange include a stop sign placed just before the southern on-ramp from Lakebreeze Avenue in Pointe-Claire. The sign has drawn concern from some residents who question how safe it is to merge with traffic from a standing stop.
“Everything we do on any structure is reviewed and revised by an engineer,” Bensadoun said.
“We also have (Transports Québec) patrol units on the road 24-7, to monitor the infrastructure. It’s part of our routine,” she said.
“If they notice anything that is out of the ordinary, they report it and we will have an engineer go and look it up.”
The interchange surrounds a small overpass for pedestrians and cyclists, built around 1970, which belongs to the City of PointeClaire.
An inspection the engineering consultants firm Roche Ltd. conducted for the city in 2014 states the pedestrian overpass is in a “satisfactory state.”
The firm’s report also notes that the city must comply to Ministry of Transport standards by conducting a general inspection of the structure every three years.
The City of Pointe-Claire commissioned the engineering consultant firm Structura Internationale SENC to inspect the structure and submit a report with recommendations in October, city spokesperson Marie-Pier Paquette-Séguin told the Montreal Gazette.
“Our engineering department will be studying the report,” she said. “With the recommendation, we’ll be able to see where we’re going to go for the following years with the pedestrian overpass.”