Roads in Quebec have been in a mess of construction for all of living memory. Crumbling infrastructure, inadequate service, and nonsensical design plague the highways in la belle province.

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But there's one period every year when the condition of roads seems to become much, much worse: the infamous annual construction holiday.

Construction workers deserve time off, too! But the sheer scale of the holiday has huge effects on not only daily commutes, but also daily life in Quebec.

In fact, roads becomes much more deadly during the two week period. Fatalities double when there are no workers to manage construction sites. According to the Montreal Gazette, while the construction holiday covers only about 4% of the days in the year, it also accounts for almost 8% of annual motor deaths.

The increase in the number of cars on the road contributes to the hazardous situation. The construction holiday is the single busiest stretch of summer in the province. More cars on the roads means multiplied traffic waits.

Perhaps the most unexpected consequence of the construction holiday is a spike in burglaries. The Gazette reports that home robberies are most frequent in the province in July and early August when up to 25% of Quebec residents are on vacation.

The construction holiday, of course, means stagnant road work. While some sites will continue to make (even slower) progress, most road work will come to a halt.

Stay tuned for a complete list of road closures this weekend in the Montreal area.

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