Laval-Montreal toll bridge A-25 set to open

These are exciting times for CEO Daniel Toutant.

He’s the man overseeing the soon-to-open A-25 bridge.

“We feel very good about this bridge. It was teamwork. Everyone is very happy,” Toutant said.

Workers spent Thursday rolling out the final touches on the 1.2-kilometre long structure that will link Laval to Montreal.

The bridge over Riviere-des-Prairies is slated to open next Friday, May 20.

“People will save that amount of time crossing the river,” said Toutant.

Roughly 25,000 vehicles are expected to cross the bridge each day.

The structure includes six km of new highway – three on each side.

Meanwhile, Autoroute-25 is now complete-stretching the entire width of the eastern part of Montreal island.

Motorists have been waiting decades for it to be finished.

“Everybody is going to pass this way. It’s going to be easier,” one motorist said Thursday.

But not everyone is excited about the opening of the new bridge.

Environmentalists fear it will simply attract more cars and pollution on the island.

“It’s hard to understand on which planet these people live,” said Sidney Ribaux of Equiterre.

Ribaux complains there are no reserved bus lanes on the bridge.

He says it’s also going to increase traffic congestion in Montreal.

“Go anywhere in Montreal and which part is most congested? It’s the bridges,” he said.

While there’s no reserved bus lane on the bridge itself, there are public transit lanes on the service roads leading to the structure.

Toutant doesn’t believe traffic chaos will be the result of the new infrastructure.

“As a matter of fact, if the bridge was congested people wouldn’t pay to come here,” he said.

The A-25 bridge is the first road toll in Quebec since tolls were pulled from the Champlain Bridge nearly 20 years ago.

It will cost most motorists $2.40 to cross during rush hour – slightly less during other parts of the day.

So far, the price doesn’t appear to be deterring anyone.

Close to 30,000 motorists have already registered for a digital toll pass – which is more than what promoters expected.

They just hope enough people will use it to pay off the half-billion dollar price tag – and make the ride a smooth one on Quebec’s newest state-of-the art structure.