Île-aux-Tourtes bridge to begin gradually reopening starting Monday
The Île-aux-Tourtes bridge is going to gradually open over the coming weeks, starting with one lane per direction starting Monday and running at full capacity by June 21.
The bridge, which connects Montreal's West Island to the off-island suburb of Vaudreuil-Dorion via Highway 40, was closed suddenly last Thursday.
The closure was caused by human error during maintenance work. It has forced some children to stay home from school and has led to an influx of cars on residential streets in several West Island municipalities.
Transport Minister François Bonnardel outlined the plan to reopen the bridge on Tuesday, saying in a statement that "more than 100 people worked hard over the long weekend to quickly arrive at this intervention plan allowing the partial reopening of the bridge safely as of May 31."
Damaged rods will be replaced, additional external reinforcement will be added and crews will continue reinforcing support beams with a carbon-fibre polymer.
The reopening plan will be as follows:
May 31: One lane per direction.
June 7: Two lanes in the peak direction and one lane in the off-peak direction.
June 14: Two lanes per direction.
June 21: Three lanes per direction, which is full capacity.
This plan could be subject to change, warned Bonnardel on Tuesday. The Ministry of Transport will confirm by way of news release the precise dates and times of each reopening.
In the meantime, Bonnardel said he requested that the repair work be carried out continuously, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
$285M earmarked for bridge repairs
Tens of thousands of motorists and truckers must now take major detours to enter and exit Montreal, but one lane remains open for ambulances and police cruisers.
As many as 87,000 motorists use the bridge during peak hours. Traffic has been diverted by Highways 20 and 30. The Transport Ministry has cancelled the toll on Highway 30. Rides on the Vaudreuil-Hudson Exo commuter train are free.
This is a difficult situation for commuters and students alike, Bonnardel said.
He said the bridge will reopen faster if possible and, he added, construction of a new bridge will be sooner than planned.
"For sure we will try to accelerate the construction of the new bridge," he said.
The goal was to have construction of the new bridge begin in 2024. Now officials are hoping to move that up to the end of 2023. The goal would be to have a new bridge operational by early 2027.
To maintain the old bridge in the meantime, the Quebec government set aside $285 million, Bonnardel said, and there will be continue to be a budget for ongoing maintenance until the replacement is ready.
The Centre de services scolaire des Trois-Lacs, which oversees schools in Vaudreuil-Dorion, is opening some primary and secondary schools as of Wednesday, while about a dozen others will switch to distance learning for the time being.
The service centre said in a statement Tuesday that is unable to provide school transportation for students to certain schools.
Opposition says more should have been done sooner
Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said the Legault administration had time to make decisions and plan appropriately to ensure the Île-aux-Tourtes bridge didn't need to close suddenly.
He said the Coalition Avenir Québec party is focusing on campaign promises rather than meeting the actual needs of the population.
Before the transport minister outlined plans to reopen the bridge, Dominique Anglade, leader of the Quebec Liberal Party, said issues with this critical link to Montreal were not taken seriously enough.
The replacement bridge was supposed to be installed this year, she said. That plan was then postponed to 2024, and that work should have been expedited rather than delayed, she said.
There were 20 days between the incident that damaged the bridge and the actual closure, Anglade said, and still "there is no plan when it was announced. No plan. They need to get their act together and present a plan."
