Quebec gives a positive monthly report on La Fontaine tunnel project

The Quebec government has given a positive assessment of the first month since the installation of major obstacles to the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel, between Montreal's east end and the South Shore, which have resulted in three of the tunnel's six lanes being closed since Oct. 31 and will remain closed until Nov. 2025.

Before the rehabilitation project began in July 2020, an average of 120,000 road users used the tunnel daily, compared to 58,000 today. The government concludes that the mitigation measures and the cooperation of road users have resulted in a reduction of more than 50 per cent in car traffic in the tunnel.

In November, there were an average of 1,319 trips per day on the free bus routes.

At the Radisson and Longueuil metro stations, ridership increased by an average of 5.3 per cent and 4.5 per cent, respectively, during the four weeks of November compared to the same period before the barriers.

At the three South Shore Park-and-Ride lots that were expanded, an increase in occupancy of 27 per cent, on average, was noted compared to the week of Oct. 17.

As for the river shuttle, the number of trips increased by 34.6 per cent in November compared to the previous month.

The deputy premier and Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Geneviève Guilbault, believes that the statistics are encouraging, but she said that there is still a large reserve of capacity.

She, therefore, still encourages citizens to choose public transit, especially at the dawn of winter.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Dec. 5, 2022.