Commuters looking to get on or off the island via the Jacques Cartier Bridge have found themselves trafficking in frustration as three different construction projects have caused major delays.
The work sites are the following:
- Two lanes on De Lormier are closed as the city’s electrical services commission works to bury new cables.
- Major water repairs on Papineau Ave. between Ste. Catherine St. and La Fontaine St. have limited traffic to two lanes approaching the bridge. All southbound lanes from the approach will be closed until the work is expected to take six weeks.
- On De Maisonneuve approaching Papineau, traffic has also been bottlenecked as a bicycle lane is built.
City officials said the projects were timed this way on purpose, as there is less traffic in the summer months and the work had to be completed before the upcoming construction holiday.
Julie Paquet, spokesperson for the Crown corporation that runs the Jacques Cartier and Champlain bridges, said there is little that can be done to alleviate the congestions.
“There’s lots of construction, it’s summer and most partners are very active repairing infrastructure,” she said. “We are carrying out work on our bridges, but also partners at the local level with the city of Montreal or the Ministry of Transport at the provincial level are carrying out construction. All that combined makes it very difficult for users to navigate through the city.”
Paquet did refer motorists to a few resources so they can plan routes that avoid the congestion.
"What we can do is offer users platforms on our website that offer information, so they can see what's happening on the bridge and around the bridge," she said. "They can also set up email alerts, SMS alerts if they don't want to get stuck in gridlock, and they can see the state of the traffic (in real time)."
While police officers are being used to direct traffic in the morning and afternoon, city officials did say they were looking for other options to alleviate the problem.
