Drivers heading to the South Shore encountered delays Wednesday morning as emergency crews cleaned up the mess created by a collision between a tanker-truck and a car near the Champlain bridge.
But people who ride the bus to and from the South Shore had to find another route entirely as buses were not travelling on either side of the Champlain bridge.
At 1:40 Wednesday morning a double-tanker truck smashed into a car on Highway 15 south at the site of the old toll plaza.
Nobody was injured, but damage to both vehicles was severe.
The risk of a spill of diesel or gasoline from the truck's two tanks prompted officials to ban all vehicles from the southbound lanes of the bridge for several hours.
Benoit Fleury, chief of operations for the Montreal Fire department, was overseeing the cleanup.
"There was concern about the amount of diesel inside the tanker truck and the amount of gasoline inside the truck but there was no leakage," said Fleury.
"Everything was put off to make sure there was no danger of ignition."
This meant the reserved bus lane for commuters coming to Montreal was closed for the morning commute.
To deal with the extra demand, the STM added extra trains on the yellow metro line for the morning rush hour.
One southbound lane was re-opened by 7:45 a.m., and by 10 o'clock normal traffic flow had resumed.
