Trucking industry hit hard by Île-aux-Tourtes bridge closure, with drivers stuck in traffic

Ian Challice is a retired long-haul trucker who recently took up work running deliveries for a hardware store in Hudson, Que., and while he's no stranger to spending the day on the road, the last week has been a nightmare.

"I left Hudson and I delivered just into Vaudreuil, just past where the Home Depot is, and to get there and back, one stop, it took me three hours," said Challice.

That drive should normally take an hour tops, he said, but the traffic caused by the Île-aux-Tourtes bridge closure is backing up into the surrounding region and creating what he says is an "absolutely terrible" situation.

And Challice didn't even have to go into Montreal.

Those truckers who do have to go into the city are faced with even longer delays and it's costing trucking companies a lot of money.

André Durocher, director of security, prevention, and training at Trans-West Logistics, says truckers for his company rely heavily on the bridge to transport produce and paper into Montreal.

"We do roughly 150 trips a week to Ontario using that road. So back and forth, that's 300 times wasting an hour on average," he said.

"On a weekly basis, you're looking at at least $18,000 of direct costs."

Expensive and stressful

With the way traffic is backing up throughout Montreal and the Vaudreuil-Dorion area, Durocher said it's hard to calculate the losses in full, but it's not just about the money. 

He said the traffic is also causing a lot of stress for drivers who are forced to spend long hours sharing the road with frustrated motorists who are, at times, driving erratically — cutting off the big trucks and not leaving enough space for the larger vehicles.

The Île-aux-Tourtes bridge is going to gradually open over the coming weeks, starting with one lane per direction starting Monday and reaching full capacity by June 21.

The bridge, which connects Montreal's West Island to Vaudreuil-Dorion via Highway 40, was closed suddenly last Thursday, affecting tens of thousands of daily commuters and truckers.

The closure was caused by human error during maintenance work. It has forced some children to stay home from school and has led to an influx of cars on residential streets in several West Island municipalities.

Transport Minister François Bonnardel said a team of people worked hard over the long weekend to plan the bridge's repairs and reopening.

Logistical headache, says trucking association

But waiting is not easy when there are deliveries to be made on time and drivers getting paid by the hour.

"For us it's a logistical headache — a costly one — because we've been impacted by the increases in our cost of operation over the years — and this one is a big one, a major one," said Marc Cadieux, president of Quebec's trucking association.

Tack on two hours for the detour, and fewer trips are being made as a result while truckers are working longer hours to ensure deliveries are made.

As for Challice, he said a large order of shingles going into the West Island might require two trips because of weight restrictions.

Roofers need their shingles delivered on time so they can get their own jobs done, he said. To ensure a delivery makes it to a West Island location in time, Challice has start at 4:30 a.m.

"And hopefully you'll get there," he said. "If not, you'll have four or five roofers sitting on a roof waiting for you. You know? That's a lot of lost revenue."