A three-year construction project that focuses on the ceiling of the Ville Marie and Viger tunnels begins on Monday, Aug. 12.
Crews will be removing part of the ceiling to repair and reinforce concrete.
This is extensive work, and it will require many, many closures of the Expressway.
Fortunately for commuters, most of the work will take place overnight and on weekends, although traffic consultant Rick Leckner believes it could still cause problems for commuters.
"The issue is how well they can coordinate this with the city of Montreal because there is often work on Viger. There is work currently around Viger Square. There is work on Notre Dame, so some of the alternates that people otherwise use won't be available," said Leckner.
"For people heading out overnight, they're going to have to check. It's better to do it overnight than it is during the day. This would be impossible to be done during the day."
The three-year project comes after eastbound lanes of the Ville Marie were closed five nights a week in March for preliminary work on the Viger Square development.
Five years ago the city of Montreal proposed covering more of the Ville Marie tunnel in order to build a public square over the highway.
That work has been much delayed as the provincial government needed time to verify the structural integrity of the supports for the tunnel, especially after the 2011 collapse of a concrete slab that blocked the tunnel for several days.
Transport Quebec spokesperson Gilles Payer warned the work will take a substantial amount of time.
"Have you counted how much ceiling is in that tunnel? There's a lot," he said. "It's very major maintenance."
