A good time to look at public transit options
That weekend would be a good time to delve into public-transit options, such as driving to a métro or commuter train station and parking the car there, officials said. Traffic applications like Google Maps, and particularly Waze, can help commuters navigate Montreal’s ever-changing roadway labyrinth.
As part of the $3.7-billion rebuilding of the Turcot, expected to be completed at the end of 2020, sections of Highway 15 that connect the Champlain Bridge to the Décarie Expressway have to be demolished. At 25 metres above ground, it is the highest point of the interchange, which brings its own deconstruction challenges. The new Highway 15 is already in use.
A 115-metre stretch of Highway 15 runs over the new sections of Highway 20 eastbound and westbound that serve as main routes to downtown from west-end Montreal. In order to dismantle that section without putting motorists at risk, Highway 20 will have to be closed in both directions, cutting off access to the Ville Marie Expressway. Engineers will assemble “deflector shields” over the new highway to protect it, and over the CN rail tracks, which will see 45 trains a day running during the Remembrance Day weekend demolition project.
Motorists leaving from downtown Friday will have to take the Bonaventure Expressway to the 20 westbound, or take the Ville Marie Expressway to the Décarie Expressway and up to the 40 westbound. Highway 20 eastbound to the Ville Marie will be open for the Friday morning commute, but both directions will be closed as of Friday evening and through the weekend. Motorists coming into downtown from the west on Monday will have the option of taking the 20 eastbound to the 15 South towards Champlain Bridge, then taking the Bonaventure Expressway into downtown.
The dismantlement of Highway 15 will also require numerous weekend closures of parts of the Turcot until the end of November.
Starting in early July, construction work on the Décarie Expressway and Highway 15 forced the closure of the Sherbrooke St. entrance to the Décarie Expressway northbound, and the exit leading to Sherbrooke St. off of the Décarie northbound. Lanes leading to the Décarie were reduced to one, causing traffic to be backed up all the way to the Champlain Bridge.
The Sherbrooke St. entrance to the Décarie will reopen next week. The Sherbrooke St. exit will reopen at the end of October.
The rebuilding is running on schedule, consortium officials said. To date, 65 per cent of the walls have been built, 70 per cent of backfill and excavation done, and 42 per cent of the demolition and dismantling is finished. Officials say that 97 per cent of demolition will be finished in the next six months. As well, 60 per cent of the structures, and 50 per cent of paving has been completed.
LaSalle’s mayor and its councillors issued a statement Thursday decrying the fact Angrignon Blvd. will be closed almost completely for almost all of 2019, limiting access to the borough. KPH-Turcot officials said they are working with LaSalle officials to ease reconstruction, but all of the Angrignon Blvd. and Notre-Dame St. intersection has to be rebuilt.