A construction project that closed an access ramp to Highway 15 South for three years has finally re-opened.
The Girouard Ave. onramp re-opened without fanfare or any city announcement around 10 a.m. Friday, but commuters who remember the old configuration should expect some changes.
The onramp to Highway 15 South was closed in December 2010 because construction crews working on the MUHC superhospital needed to lay sewer mains and underground water connections to the hospital campus. That meant closing other routes drivers normally used to go from St. Henri to NDG, and as a workaround the bottom section of Girouard Ave., which had been one-way south, was turned into a two-direction street.
Now the multi-directionality of Girouard Ave. remains, but with an extra traffic light to allow southbound motorists to access the Decarie onramp which leads to the 15 South and the Turcot Interchange.
NDG residents who have had to detour 1.5 km to the north for the past three years are glad they will finally be able to get on the 15 South -- but they will face another obstacle soon.
Transport Quebec had planned to close the St. Jacques St. bridge this year in order to demolish and reconstruct it. That work has been delayed while financial regulators investigate the two companies awarded the contract to do the work, one of which has been fined repeatedly for fraud.
