MONTREAL - Drivers in Montreal are being faced with another obstacle lined by construction cones as they look to drive across town.
As of Wednesday the number of lanes going through the Ville Marie tunnel will be restricted.
Heading west, one lane will be closed from Panet St. until the University St. exit, and starting Thursday eastbound drivers will have to cope with one or two lanes closed for almost the entire length of the tunnel.
Contractors are repairing the walls of the tunnel, a job that is expected to last until the end of November.
Transport Quebec only made the announcement Tuesday afternoon, and at the same time warned of more headaches to come.
"It's very important because this tunnel is an old structure built in 1970," said Transport Quebec spokesman Réal Grégoire. "So we have to (do) maintenance."
The construction will at times require the complete overnight closure of the tunnel, and there is more work necessary on the Ville Marie Expressway that has yet to be announced.
For Montreal motorists, seeing another army of orange construction cones will be nothing new. This latest road work project sits just west of the major work ongoing at the Turcot interchange, not to mention the continued closure of the St-Jacques St. exit off the Ville-Marie.
Further east, major work is being done at the Anjou interchange, and once off the highways navigating the city's streets without running into at least one construction site is practically impossible.
"It's a nightmare," one motorist told CTV Montreal's Rob Lurie.
Former traffic reporter, Rick Leckner is now a consultant to the transport minister. He is also a member of a new committee working on better ways to coordinate roadwork and improve communication between transport authorities and drivers.
"We need to prepare them better so when they leave their home they know which route to take," he said. "We need to inform them in advance of work that's being done, which is a challenge because things come up."
Leckner says improvements will hopefully come, but these construction-related headaches are unlikely to disappear any time soon.
"This city can't accommodate the amount of cars that are coming in here," Leckner admits.
The committee is looking at ways to increase public transit use, even studying what went right with the transport plan for U2.
"It worked beautifully," Leckner said.
The city will need to convince more drivers of how beautifully public transport can work for them, or else this summer's traffic mess may continue getting worse every year.
