Île-aux-Tourtes bridge to close this weekend, have further lane reductions due to cracked beam
Work is expected to last more than a year
Construction to fix a crack in a beam on the Île-aux-Tourtes bridge will close the span completely this weekend.
Starting Friday at 11:59 p.m. and extending until Monday at 5 a.m., the bridge will be closed while Transports Québec workers reconfigure its lanes.
Starting Monday, the bridge will reopen, but with only three of its six lanes — two heading in the direction of rush-hour traffic, one in the other direction.
Two east-bound lanes will be open toward Montreal in the morning between midnight and 9:30 a.m. and two west-bound lanes will be open between 11:30 a.m. and 10 p.m. and all day on weekends.
The work is expected to last at least a year and cause significant traffic disruptions.
"The ministry is aware that this new configuration will have a significant impact on road users' travel times," a ministry news release said. "Whenever possible, we recommend using public transport or telecommuting."
To ease traffic pressure on and near the bridge, Highway 30, a toll road that allows drivers to go around the bridge, will be free on Saturday and Sunday.
Transports Québec starting Nov. 29, there will be three extra commuter trains running on the Exo Vaudreuil-Hudson line:
- Train #16, leaving Vaudreuil at 7:30 a.m.
- Train #12, leaving Hudson at 6:14 a.m.
- Train #21 leaving Lucien L'Allier station at 4:40 p.m. and ending at Hudson station.
The extra trains are in addition to extra buses that have been added to public transit, with financial support from the province.
Construction has been ongoing on the bridge after a crack was discovered in a support beam last week. Work was already underway and only two of the bridge's three lanes were open in each direction.