Not a terrible 1st day: Drivers avoid Highway 20 as Turcot work shuts lane
Ramp connecting Highway 20 East to the Ville-Marie Expressway now down to single lane
Today's commute from Montreal's West Island was expected to be extra long and frustrating Monday morning with work on the new Turcot Interchange paralyzing a key route into downtown, but it seems it wasn't so bad.
On Sunday, one lane connecting Highway 20 East to the Ville-Marie Expressway was blocked off. Officials advised commuters to use a different route, change their schedule, take public transit, or be prepared to sit in traffic.
By mid-morning, it appeared as though many drivers heeded that advice.
"People have been scared off. I know where they are – they're on the 40 East," said Jennifer Allen, CBC traffic reporter.
Transports Québec spokeswoman Nomba Danielle said as far as the ministry is concerned, there weren't any major issues with Monday morning's commute.
"Road users really avoided the 720 east area in the Turcot Interchange. We hope it's because they took public transit and they modified their transportation habits, but we noticed that the nightmare that everyone was expecting didn't happen this morning," she said.
By 6:30 a.m., traffic on Highway 20 was already slow for about three kilometres, from before the Angrignon overpass. Two hours later, traffic was backed up four kilometres to around the St. Jacques Street exit.
The Transport Ministry had anticipated five to six kilometres of heavy traffic heading into Montreal.
The lane reduction will be in place until 2018.
The STM says it's adding 25 more buses and increasing the capacity of its Green line to accommodate more users.
Train delays
Two trains on the Vaudreuil-Hudson line, which serves much of the West Island, were delayed by 30 minutes this morning.
AMT spokeswoman Caroline Fortin says the problem was a signaling issue for trains that passed through Montreal West station.
Trains weren't getting authorization to circulate and were being delayed, she said.
The signals are the responsibility of Canadian Pacific Railway, which owns the tracks that the AMT trains run on.
In a statement, a spokesperson for CP said the company "regrets the inconvenience that delays caused Montreal commuters this morning" and "has continually demonstrated its commitment to on time performance of AMT trains."
Two possible detour options
The lane closure is necessary in order to prepare two new lanes to access downtown, which will be part of the eventual replacement for the Ville-Marie Expressway.
Transport Ministry officials are suggesting two detour routes through the Southwest borough:
- East along Notre-Dame Street to St-Rémi Street, then north to St-Jacques Street.
- St-Patrick Street eastbound along the Lachine Canal into the city.
Highway 720 East will permanently close in mid-November between the Turcot and Atwater exit.
Highway 136 will replace it, but will only offer two lanes instead of four to access downtown.
Bad for businesses
According to Marc Cadieux, the president of the Quebec Trucking Association, the congestion in Montreal will drive up prices.
"There will need to be surcharges imposed by carriers to come onto the island of Montreal and delays will need to be factored in," Cadieux said.
Along with the extra cost to transport goods, businesses are having trouble convincing people to make the effort to get into the city.
André Poulin, the executive director of Destination Centre-Ville, the downtown Montreal commercial development association, says the challenge of convincing people to shop downtown is worsened by traffic.
"What we're hearing more and more is that people are avoiding downtown," Poulin said.
with files from Radio-Canada's Olivier Bachand