It was a frightening experience for a driver Tuesday night, as a chunk of concrete came hurtling down from the ceiling on the Ville-Marie Tunnel and smashed a hole in his windshield.
The incident happened as the driver was entering the eastbound tunnel via the Duke St. entrance around 8:30 p.m.
No one was injured.
Prior to the chunk of concrete falling, a truck had hit the beams spanning the tunnel, loosening the concrete.
The majority of the concrete that fell landed on the roadway but at least one piece, likely the size of an orange, hit the car. Transport Quebec said the chunks were much smaller than those that fell off Highway 40 in January, and that the damage was superficial.
At this point, it's unclear how much time passed between the truck passing through the tunnel and the motorist passing through.
Upon receiving the call, Transport Quebec sent engineers to the scene, who removed other loose pieces.
“Right away we did close two ramps, Duke and Bonaventure, that access the 720 east and we did conduct a first inspection,” said Sarah Bensadoun, Transport Quebec spokesperson.
A structural engineer examined the ceiling of the Duke on-ramp tunnel, where concrete was missing and blue paint remained.
“We're talking about a truck that hit the beams and the ceiling of the tunnel,” said Bensadoun.
There is a large sign outside the tunnel indicating the height restriction.
“We also did an operation to secure the concrete on the ceiling. We made sure to delaminate it so this way the concrete wouldn't fall on the highway,” said Bensadoun.
The ramps were closed from around 8:30 until 11 p.m.
Transport Quebec engineers then determined the Duke access tunnel was safe enough to be reopened.
“The structural integrity was not compromised. We did two inspections,” said Bensadoun.
Transport Quebec is still trying to locate the truck and will be using footage from security cameras in an attempt to identify it.
Its driver may be slapped with a hefty bill for causing the damage.
Montrealers uneasy
Montrealers have an uneasy relationship with concrete infrastructure, including the Ville-Marie, particularly after a concrete beam fell onto the eastbound span in July 2011, narrowly missing hundreds of vehicles.
Engineer Hellen Christodoulou said any incident has to be addressed, even if initially it appears minor.
“Part of the aspect they have to verify is that if there has been a severe impact and it has actually promulgated to the rest of the structure and may have affected the structure,” she said.
Christodoulou is reassured by the latest inspections and says Transport Quebec has become more vigilant about prevention and upkeep in the last five years.
“I think that at this point given all the hard lessons, I would say that we are in a better place and I hope we stay that way,” she said.
