Montreal traffic will be extra hellish this weekend. The entire downtown stretch of Route 136 — i.e. the whole of the Ville-Marie and Viger Tunnels — will close to traffic between Friday night and Monday morning. And this could be just the beginning.
The Ministry of Transport states there will be further weekend closures as workers repair and shore up the Boulevard Saint-Laurent overpass. That project isn't scheduled to wrap up until 2024.
There will also be two ramp closures in the Turcot Interchange.
On Route 136, between 11 p.m. Friday, May 26, and 5 a.m. Monday, May 29, the westbound section will close between Rue Panet and the on-ramp from Rue Lucien-L'Allier, an approximately 3.8-kilometre stretch of the busy downtown highway.
The ministry says detours will direct westbound drivers onto Avenue Viger Avenue and Rue Saint-Antoine.
In the other direction, 136 will close between Exit 4 to Rue de la Montagne and the on-ramp from Rue Atataken — about 3.7 kilometres — from 11:30 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday, with detours on Rue Saint-Jacques and Rue Saint-Antoine.
On-ramps within the affected area will close 30 minutes before the route closure, the ministry adds.
A map of Route 136 showing the area of a planned closure in downtown Montreal.Quebec Ministry of Transport
Officials will take advantage of the Ville-Marie Tunnel closure to perform work in the Turcot Interchange further west — because why have multiple bad weekends when you can stack work into one awful weekend?
Therefore, also between Friday night and Monday morning, drivers won't be able to access the ramp from Highway 20 East to Route 136 East, nor the ramp from Highway 15 North to Route 136 East.
The ministry encourages drivers to check Québec 511 for updates.