Above watch: Billy Shields reports on the many residents who came out late Saturday night to watch an example of public works that turned into a local attraction.
VAUDREUIL – Residents in the community a stone’s throw from the West Island got to see an unusual spectacle Saturday night.
A team of 9 bulldozers, backhoes and jack hammers worked in tandem to bring the old St-Charles overpass down on the eve of the summer construction holiday.
“Everyone was in sync with each other,” said Vaudreuil resident Patrick Fernandes, who watched it with his girlfriend, Irene Williams.
“As soon as one guy would move, everybody would move out of the way.”
Williams took photos and video of the demolition.
“My boyfriend and I were just coming home from a fishing trip, and we remembered the bridge was being demolished,” she said.
“We thought it was just going to be the two of us, and we showed up here and there was a bunch of people here to look at what was happening.”
Transport Quebec was unavailable to comment on the operation Sunday.
Workers closed off the A-40 during construction. Residents say the demolished overpass will join an existing overpass built recently to form a four-lane, two-way thoroughfare over the A-40, joining Vaudreuil-sur-la-Lac to a shopping district in Vaudreuil-Dorion.
The demolition took some residents completely by surprise.
“No kidding,” said Anne-Marie Chmilnitzky, who was walking nearby.
“Because it was there yesterday,we walked over it and now it’s not there!”
Comments