Turcot Interchange ramp to be shut for eight weeks
Three years of traffic pain awaits motorists as worst is yet to come
Is the new Turcot Interchange half-built or half-unfinished?
The optimistic consortium building Montreal’s busiest tangle of roadways patted itself on the back Friday, announcing it has now completed 50 per cent of the $3.7-billion project.
But weary motorists see three more years of traffic pain ahead, with all the work only expected to be completed by the end of 2020.
And some of the coming phases will be worse than the ones in the rear view mirror, starting in September when a key stretch of the interchange will be closed for eight weeks.
The ramp from Highway 15 North to Highway 20 West will be closed in about two weeks for two months.
That means drivers arriving in Montreal from the Champlain Bridge will be detoured if they are heading to Trudeau airport or the West Island. About 1,000 drivers per hour use the ramp during morning rush hour, with 800 cars per hour zooming by in the afternoon.
While the ramp is shut down, drivers can stay on the 15 North, exit at Côte-St-Luc Rd. and then turn around and use the 15 South to reach Highway 20 West.
BOTTLENECK
But Côte-St-Luc is already a bottleneck during rush hour so Transport Quebec is urging drivers to instead exit the 15 North at De la Vérendrye Blvd., and then take St-Patrick St. and Monk Blvd. to reach the 20 West.
The closure will allow workers to demolish the ramp and build a temporary bypass until a permanent new ramp can be built, said Sylvie Gervais, a spokesperson for the private consortium building the new Turcot.
The Turcot is used by about 300,000 vehicles daily.
Drivers should also brace for other big changes around the sprawling construction site between mid-October and the end of December, Gervais said.
During this period, traffic will be transferred from several Turcot ramps, with some going to temporary ramps and some to new, permanent ones. By the end of December, only three ramps from the old Turcot will still be in use, Gervais said.
The configuration changes will have a major impact on road users arriving at the Turcot from every direction, said Transport Quebec spokesperson Sarah Bensadoun.
She said drivers should keep an eye out for detour signs, and should avoid using a GPS in and around the Turcot because the technology could steer them wrong.
The Turcot work was announced Friday, as Transport Quebec unveiled its fall 2017 road work plan.
The long list includes construction on a new city square over a sunken section of the Ville-Marie Expressway.
Workers recently erected 102 pillars that will hold up the new structure. Over the next two months, part of the highway will be completely closed for several weekends so concrete can be poured to cover the stretch between l’Hôtel-de-Ville Ave. and Sanguinet St.
However, the permanent square — to be known as Place des Montréalaises — is only expected to be completed in 2022.
“Fall 2017 is going to be quite busy,” Bensadoun said, noting work will also be taking place on Highway 25, the St-Pierre Interchange and the new Champlain Bridge.
“Road users will have to change their habits,” she said. “Using public transit is no longer an option — it’s a necessity.”
She said “there’s still capacity (on public transit). We added service on different lines, in Montreal, on the South Shore and the North Shore. If you continue using your car, you will be stuck in traffic, you will have a detour — or several detours if you miss your exit.”
Transport Quebec said $49 million will be spent improving transit in 2017 and 2018 in the hopes of enticing drivers to leave cars at home. Most of the improvements are continuations of measures announced in previous years, such as extra bus service and parking spaces in suburban train stations.
New measures include adding 129 spots to park-and-ride lots in Candiac and Repentigny and boosting service on Longueuil bus routes serving the Montarville terminus in Boucherville.
Road users will have to change their habits. If you continue using your car, you will be stuck in traffic, you will have a detour — or several detours if you miss your exit.