MONTREAL - With the province's construction season approaching, Transport Quebec unveiled plans for $3.4 billion worth of roadwork this summer.
Montreal will receive 30 per cent more work than last summer, as part of 1,600 construction sites planned for across Quebec.
Spending will remain at roughly the same amount as 2011-2012, but this year the Turcot interchange, Autoroute 40 between Kirkland and Vaudreuil, and Autoroute 15 near Laval will see the majority of the work. The Dorval Circle, Autoroute 13 and 520 will also get major repairs.
Transport Minister Pierre Moreau made the announcement Friday.
Moreau defended the planned work schedule and the traffic snarls it could create, saying the government was only trying to make up for the negligent upkeep of road network under the Parti Quebecois governments of the 1990s.
"What we have done since 2007 is increase, year after year, the amount of money that we are putting into the network," Moreau told reporters. "It is quite clear, if you have an objective perspective, that the network is improving."
Moreau said 90 per cent of roads and 70 per cent of the bridges and tunnels within the Transport Quebec network in Montreal are in good shape are in good shape.
He added that better communication with residents would be a major goal this summer.
"We understood the message," said Moreau. "We will give seven days warning before planned work when it could cause major disruptions. We will provide a shorter warning before work that could cause smaller disruptions."
With $22 billion spent on the road network over the past 10 years, the minister said his department was learning its lessons.
His advice for Montrealers who don't want to be stuck in traffic? Take public transit.
With files from The Canadian Press.
