Montreal and traffic go together like peanut butter and jelly — but it's definitely not as delicious. The unholy combination is shaping up to be pretty awful this weekend for downtown Montreal commuters.
A Montreal traffic nightmare is starting on Friday evening as the complete closure of a huge section of the Autoroute Ville-Marie Ouest between the Ville-Marie Tunnel and rue Lucien-l'Allier will force an estimated 105,000 daily users of the Ville-Marie onto detours.
CNW Group / Ministère des Transports
According to the Ministère des Transports, "this obstruction is required in order to carry out maintenance work on the structures of the raised portion of the road."
This is a massive closure that will affect the "Autoroute 136 westbound between exit 5 - Boul. R.-Bourassa/Pont Champlain/Pont Victoria and the entrance from rue Lucien-L'Allier," according to the Ministry.
A detour marked by signs will be set up in the coming days.
The Ministry notes that "in the event of unfavorable weather conditions or operational constraints, this work could be postponed." But no matter what, the work is happening, whether it's this weekend or another.
Drivers should keep in mind that two exits along this route are closed until spring 2022. These closures will affect exit 4 - Rue de la Montagne/rue Saint-Jaques and the western portion of the sidewalk on the corner of rues de la Montagne and Saint-Jacques.
So really, you should avoid this sector as much as possible if you have a car.