Construction on the Turcot Interchange is entering the final phases, and new ramps and connections will be opening in the weeks to come.
KPH Turcot, the consortium building the interchange used by 300,000 drivers each day, said Thursday that the project is four-fifths finished and on schedule to wrap up by the end of 2020.
On Monday the new, permanent ramps from Highway 15 North to Highway 20 West open.
A bit later on the ramp from Decarie South to Highway 20 West will open -- so drivers will no longer need to make the looping detour that is currently in place.
The ramp from Highway 20 East to Decarie North will also open in a few weeks.
Once those are open the temporary structures in place will be demolished.
There are, however, no precise dates for those changes.
Other changes to come include opening three out of four lanes for westbound drivers coming out of the Ville Marie Tunnel and heading toward the Turcot, and reopening the exit to De la Verendrye from Highway 15 South.
Olivier Beaulieu of KPH Turcot said he was happy with the progress being made on the interchange.
"It was very, very tough at the beginning of the project where we had to start building the structure and roads and detours in order to dismantle. Now that the dismantling is all completed, we're really in a closing phase," said Beaulieu.
He said once the ramps and roadways are complete crews will then spend time planting a small forest.
"It's roughly 10,000 trees we're going to install as well as lots of bushes. I think it's 55,000 bushes that we'll install. It's going to be green everywhere around the interchange," said Beaulieu.
