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As of Monday, there can be two westbound lanes headed towards Vaudreuil-Dorion and one eastbound towards Montreal, for a complete of three. That is trigger for celebration — to a level.
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There was excellent news and dangerous information late final week within the ongoing saga of the cursed Île-aux-Tourtes Bridge.
First, the nice. As of Monday, there can be two westbound lanes open headed towards Vaudreuil-Dorion and one eastbound towards Montreal, for a complete of three. That’s trigger for celebration, because it’s an enchancment from the catastrophic one lane in every path that has been in place since early December, when harm to a slab on the growing old span was detected, requiring emergency repairs.
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The 87,000 automobiles a day that normally cross the hyperlink have been compelled to squeeze from six into simply two lanes — inflicting gridlock and distress even when frequent crashes didn’t trigger longer delays.
However excellent news on this fiasco is relative.
We’re now again the place we have been in November, when Transport Quebec discovered a brand new crack and introduced the decrepit span was solely protected sufficient for 3 of six lanes to be open. This setup allowed for a reversible third lane at rush hour to ease site visitors, so there have been two towards Montreal within the morning and two again to Vaudreuil-Dorion within the night, with one going the opposite approach.
On the time, that was thought-about very dangerous information. That discount in capability got here simply two months after Transport Quebec lastly reopened a fifth lane on the bridge, allowing a 3rd lane of outbound or inbound site visitors throughout peak durations, with two the opposite approach.
For 9 months, beginning proper earlier than Christmas 2022, the Île-aux-Tourtes was diminished to 4 lanes — two in every path — which nonetheless created power congestion.
Are you maintaining monitor? Belief me, residents who reside off the western tip of Montreal Island comply with these developments as obsessively as they do the Habs. And they’ll till a alternative for the crumbling bridge is constructed alongside the previous one.
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Building has been expedited in gentle of how critically the Île-aux-Tourtes has deteriorated. The primary part of the brand new bridge is scheduled to open on the finish of 2026. However that’s not quick sufficient to keep away from this collection of cascading crises attributable to inexcusable upkeep failures and inertia.
In hindsight, the 2 lanes that continued in every path for the higher a part of final 12 months now appears totally cheap — nice, even. However that’s as a result of off-island residents have turn into so inured to the fixed roller-coaster of closures and reconfigurations, even the slightest amelioration brings widespread aid.
However January is simply higher than December as a result of December was so disastrous. And the debacle is definitely worse this January than it was final January, when everybody thought issues have been terrible.
Now for the dangerous information.
For those who hadn’t already observed, the return of the third lane will solely ease the hellish site visitors through the night rush hour. It is going to not change path, as a result of making the swap every day is just too difficult in winter. So, not less than in the interim, the morning rush hour will stay simply as painful.
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Additionally, a number of the mitigation measures put in place to take care of this mess are being withdrawn.
As an illustration, the tolls on the Freeway 30 ring street can be reinstated beginning Monday — besides heading eastbound between 5:30 and 9:30 a.m., given there’s nonetheless just one lane open towards Montreal. Since December, passage on Freeway 30 has been free each methods on a regular basis to encourage some motorists to make use of another, albeit for much longer, route into the town.
Additionally, free rides on Exo trains and specific buses for off-island residents will cease on the finish of the month. A “beneficial” new pricing scheme is coming, however has but to be introduced.
Fortunately, the extra Exo departures — together with a 3rd practice out and in of Hudson each weekday, which started service Jan. 8 — will keep. For now.
These measures — each the waived fares and the additional trains — have been a really faint silver lining in a demanding scenario. It’s unfair to begin withdrawing them prematurely, after we’re not even again to the place we have been by way of bridge capability right now final 12 months.
In a fast-growing area the place public transit service is proscribed, extra trains are welcome. The parking zone of the station in Hudson hasn’t been this full in years. And it’s arduous to discover a spot in Vaudreuil, the hub of transportation within the space. It reveals folks will use transit when it’s out there, dependable and handy.
The free tickets have been an incentive to attract extra folks aboard trains and off the roads — maybe encouraging them to alter their commuting habits for good. It’s not solely a golden alternative to be seized, however a naked minimal provide of compensation to these struggling by the bridge nightmare.
And let’s face it: Whereas the Transport Ministry is saying extra lanes may reopen on the Île-aux-Tourtes later this 12 months (possibly 5, in all probability by no means six), there’s no assure if or when that can occur. All measures to alleviate the congestion must be stored in place till that occurs. Beginning and stopping them on a regular basis simply creates confusion.
The present state of the bridge continues to be removed from acceptable. And there’s nonetheless an extended method to go earlier than the brand new Île-aux-Tourtes is prepared.
ahanes@postmedia.com
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