No plan for major work on potholes
Q I can’t help but feel sorry for my car and my fellow drivers and their vehicles after taking the Rockland Rd. exit off Highway 15 South.
The potholes on this stretch of road are beyond deep and terrible. You can’t even swerve to avoid them because both lanes on this overpass are a sad sight riddled with potholes big enough to accommodate SUV tires, such as mine.
Every summer, it’s quickly patched up and once the ice and snow melt, it’s back to the same old song and dance.
Will the city of Montreal ever fix potholes properly? Or do they need a series of complaints, car repair invoices and possibly lawsuits to finally get their act in order and find a real solution once and for all for the thousands of potholes scattered around the island?
Recently, I have started to get off at the Côte-Vertu Blvd. exit instead and reroute to Lucerne Road in Town of Mount Royal to get to JeanTalon to then get on to Côtedes-Neiges Rd. It sounds like a long detour, but I’d rather do that then cause excessive damage to my car.
Steve Altan, Côte-des-Neiges
A You probably are not going to like the answer provided by the authorities on this one. First, the area is maintained by Transport Quebec because it is a provincial roadway.
Dominique David, a spokesperson for the transport department, said the last time the road was surfaced in this area was back in 2013 and 2014. The entire highway was resurfaced over a period of months from Rockland Rd. to the Médéric Martin Bridge that leads to Laval.
David said there are no plans to do major work on the road surface in the near future, which means crews will continue to inspect and patch the holes in the road on an as-needed basis. Anyone who wants to flag specific concerns to the ministry can do so on the website for Transport Quebec.
Q I regularly take the Highway 13 tunnel (that passes under Côte-de-Liesse Expressway). With the removal of the paralumes (concrete sun shades), driving southbound during sunny conditions (usually morning) is like driving into a black hole.
There is going to be a serious accident here one day — if it has not already happened — as cars driving at 100 km/h can’t see if traffic has stopped five feet into the tunnel.
What if anything is Transport Quebec planning to safeguard this area? Those structures were there for a reason, I would assume. It may one day be my car that is stuck five feet into the tunnel with cars and trucks barrelling into me and my children. Andrew P.,
Laval
A The province’s transport department said it doesn’t believe the 2014 removal of the paralumes has affected visibility in the tunnel and it has had few complaints about it. In fact, only four complaints were registered about the tunnel since the end of the 1990s.
The tunnel will, however, get new lighting that should improve visibility, said Dominique David, a spokesperson for Transport Quebec.
“But the time frame for that project has not been outlined yet,” David said.
The tunnel was built in 1975 and was inspected last year. It will be inspected again in 2019.
David said about 46,000 cars per day pass through the tunnel.