Surprise! More traffic headaches await for those who use the Turcot Interchange.

Transport Quebec will close two ramps from the Ville-Marie to Highway 15 for 13 weeks, beginning in August, a move that has Southwest borough officials steaming.

Driving along Highway 20 and getting onto the 15 may not be pretty now, but it will soon be impossible.

In August, two major ramps – one from Highway 720 east to Highway 15 north and the other from Highway 20 west to Highway 15 south – will be closed for 13 weeks

Work will continue until November.

Two detours will be created, said Transport Quebec. The first will run from Highway Ville Marie east.

“You have to continue on the 720 east exit at Guy/du Fort and then U-Turn and access the 15 north,” said Transport Quebec spokesperson Sarah Bensadoun. 

The other is on Highway 20 west.

“You have to continue until Angrignon, U-Turn and then access the 15 south,” she explained.

Still, the work is sure to cause more trouble for the over 22,000 motorists who use the ramps on average daily.

“Turcot is the busiest area in Quebec,” said Bensadoun.

The detours have southwest borough councillor Craig Sauvé worried.

“There could be a lot of extra traffic coming in our residential streets. People that are not aware of these changes yet that might go into the St. Henri area to Lionel Groulx near Atwater as well as down in Cote St. Paul as well,” he said.

Sauvé is also upset about how the borough learned of the project.

“We read Le Devoir this morning,” he said, adding that they just had a meeting with Transport Quebec less than two weeks ago.

“There was no mention of these two maintenances going on,” he said.

Transport Quebec maintains that drivers shouldn't have to enter the city to use the detours.

“It should not be necessarily on the streets of the municipality area,” said Bensadoun.

She admits they can't control what drivers do, and Sauvé said he’s sure the borough will be affected.
“People going back to work back to school and a lot more traffic so that's something that worries us,” he said.

To top it off, the work isn't even to build the new Turcot; it's to repair the old on- and off-ramps until the new Turcot is ready.

Motorists can expect more of the same in spring 2015, when the transport ministry closes ramps on the opposite directions again for resurfacing.

“Basically we are going to remove the asphalt, work on the concrete bed and then re-asphalt again,” said Bensadoun.

Representatives of Transport Quebec will meet with residents of the southwest borough Wednesday night to explain the detours.