Over the past several days, many drivers heeded the advice of Transport Quebec and avoided the Turcot Interchange, either finding other routes, taking public transportation, or avoiding travel altogether.
Since Thursday evening, construction crews have used heavy equipment to piledrive holes through sections of the roadbed, which was then lowered, chunk by chunk, to the ground below.
Giant pillars, up to 25 metres high, were also ground into dust and rubble.
Although several important routes through the Turcot were closed, many ramps were open, and a railway underneath the interchange was being used frequently as the number of trains was increased.
A temporary roof covered the tracks, but work still came to temporary halts as trains passed underneath.
"They put a deflector on Highway 20 to protect the highway," said Martin Girard of Transport Quebec. "And there was a structure kind of like a bridge over the railroad so when there are concrete pieces that are falling from the structure they didn't touch the railroad or Highway 20."
All ramps through the Turcot will reopen at 5 a.m. Tuesday, although closures are still planned for this and all future weekends for the next two years.
“For now until this summer, every weekend major closures can be expected,” said Girard.
Work to rebuild the interchange is about 70 per cent complete and is still planned to finish by the end of 2020.
