MONTREAL -Twenty-seven of 587 bridges and tunnels studied by the City of Montreal have been deemed to be in a critical state and will be treated with $108 million in repairs and demolitions over the next three years, according to a city report issued Wednesday.
The city, however, explained that the structures deemed critical are not on life support or in danger of collapse.
Of the rest of the structures studied, 386 of the structures are in good shape, while 79 were classified as “deteriorated” while 38 bridges and tunnels are deemed “poor “ and 25 went into the “deficient” file.
One structure cited as being in the critical condition category was the overpass at Pie IX and Henri Bourassa.
“Right now this structure is very deteriorated,” said Executive Committee Vice Chairman Richard Deschamps, who is in charge of the road repair file. “Public safety is not at risk. We monitor it and we follow it up and we're going to tear it down in a few months,” he said.
The 27 structures deemed critical represent more than double last year's total of 12.
Deschamps attributes that to more stringent inspections.
“We've increased our number of inspections and the good news in that is we got a better idea what are the weaknesses and the interventions that we have to do,” he said.
While the $108 million total might appear large, the city said that it needs $550 million to fix the city’s roads, lights, tunnels and bridges over the next decade.
Opposition leader Louise Harel said that more money is needed.
“The problem is there is more critical infrastructure than last year but less to invest to solve the problem,” said Louise Harel.
