Will a truck ban curtail Mercier Bridge traffic 'nightmare'? Officials hope so

Truck traffic will be banned on the Mercier bridge during rush hour, starting soon, in an effort to ease congestion on the bridge.

Transport Minister André Fortin paid a surprise visit to Châteauguay Thursday morning to meet South Shore mayors and talk about ways to improve what Châteauguay Mayor Pierre-Paul Routhier calls "a major nightmare."

The consensus is that neither the province nor the municipalities had been prepared for the extent of the traffic mess when one of the bridge's spans was closed for repairs last week.

"What we could have done a better job at — we'll take the blame for that, and I heard the mayor of Châteauguay do the same — is there are a lot of mitigation measures that were put forward, there are additional buses that are available and running, but we didn't exactly communicate to the citizens what [their] options were," Fortin said.

Routier said after the meeting he's ashamed nothing was done sooner.

1 lane only each way

There is only one lane available on the bridge in each direction until Aug. 20.

Since Wednesday, morning traffic headed into Montreal has been backed up from around 4 a.m. on. Some motorists have said it now takes them upwards of two hours to cross.

Thursday's meeting of political leaders came not a minute too soon: a motorcyclist was struck by an errant pylon and lost control on the bridge Thursday morning. That brought traffic flow to a halt as emergency vehicles tried to get to the scene of the accident.

The man was taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Trucks to get free pass over toll bridge

It's unclear when the truck ban will begin or for what time periods in the morning and afternoon trucks will be banned, but the plan is to allow truck drivers to use the toll bridge on Highway 30 in Vaudreuil free of charge.

Officials are also looking into the possibility of allowing commuters to travel by bus for free and extending the period of reserved bus lanes on the highway leading to the bridge.

While the buses do get stuck in the traffic on the bridge, the dedicated bus lane from Châteauguay allows them to bypass the congested lanes on the highway.

As a result, Fortin said, the buses have only faced delays of five to six minutes, so far.

Mayor has ideas for mitigation

Earlier in the day, Routhier said he wished the Transport Ministry had consulted with the affected communities to seek ways to curtail traffic woes before the work began.

"It's obvious the bridge has to be repaired. I have no problem with that, but we have to be able to get around."

For its part, the Transport Ministry has been encouraging motorists to use public transit.

This is the ninth summer in 10 years that work on the bridge has shut lanes in the summer.