Residents of Montreal’s West End can expect traffic pain, and lots of it, as construction on the Turcot interchange kicks off.
Several ramps will be closed during the roadwork, including shutting down the eastbound St. Jacques exit for four years.
The closure is due to the dismantling of a CN train tunnel. Traffic will be rerouted through St. Henri, and NDG, LaSalle and even Westmount could be affected by the backlogged traffic.
Montreal West Mayor Beny Masella said he found out last week the extent of the detours, which will be as long as four kilometres.
“We were called into a meeting with the group doing the Turcot work,” he said. “We were told at that point the following phases and the phases that include the work that most directly affects NDG and Montreal West. It was a surprise. It’s always a surprise when you see the extent and how intimately it affects the people living in your part of town. When we were called into the meeting, it’s not like we were asked what we thought of this, we were told this is what is going on.”
Masella said he’s concerned about the ability of certain streets to handle the traffic overflow, including Avon St. in particular.
“Those roads are not made for that volume of cars to go through,” he said.
NDG councillor Peter McQueen said after St. Jacques St. West was closed, west-end residents were detoured further west.
“Now they're closing the detour so where are the cars going to go?” said McQueen, adding that commuters will need more public transit options and Transport Quebec will need to be very responsive about new detours.
“Please make sure the detours are open at all times and as fluid as possible,” he said.
“We put in place measures, public transit measures... to limit the impact,” said Martin Girard of Transport Quebec, adding that Transport Quebec promises it will work with municipalities affected.
They have formed a committee to constantly evaluate if measures make sense.
“If there's a problem with a detour or measure, we can change it if necessary,” he said.
