Detached guardrail left hanging near Highway 20 in the West Island for days
Transport Ministry workers show up for repairs after calls from CBC
A damaged guardrail left hanging near Highway 20 in Montreal's West Island for several days is finally being repaired.
Workers from Transports Québec showed up on Cartier Avenue on Friday afternoon — while CBC was there with a camera to do a report on it — to fix the broken railing.
Authorities were alerted about the guardrail on Monday, when Pointe-Claire resident Richard Bissonnette noticed the damaged barrier and called the City.
Bissonnette noticed the metal railing, on the north end of the Cartier Avenue overpass, was partly torn off the concrete wall. He was worried it could fall onto a car on the highway below.
Bissonnette said that since he reported the broken guardrail, only an orange cone was placed there.
When CBC contacted Pointe-Claire officials, they confirmed they had received Bissonette's call and said they'd alerted the provincial Transport Ministry, which is responsible for the overpass.
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CBC then contacted the ministry. While waiting for a response, workers suddenly showed up to repair the railing Friday afternoon, while CBC was on site.
Workers told CBC the railing was not in danger of falling off because it was solidly attached on the other end, but that a surveillance truck will remain on site until it can be fixed.
The Transport Ministry emailed CBC back late Friday, to say it would respond on Monday as to why the guardrail was not fixed sooner.
With files from CBC's Jaela Bernstien