Mercier Bridge down to one lane because of pothole

MONTREAL – The Mercier Bridge was down to one lane Friday morning as work crews repaired a pothole that was reportedly 30 centimetres in diameter.

Bruno Lacombe, of Transport Quebec, said at 9:30 a.m. that crews were filling the pothole with asphalt and planned to reopen the lane as soon as possible.

He said the pothole was noticed at 7:20 a.m. on the side of the span heading toward Montreal under the span’s metal superstructure. Crews then closed both lanes of the bridge and put a metal plate over the hole. They reopened one lane on the bridge about 9 a.m. The crews want to “flatten out” the roadway so they are adding asphalt, he said.

The outbound side of the span was closed earlier this week to traffic for the summer because urgent repairs are needed on 10 of the span’s gusset plates.

The plan is now to alternate inbound and outbound traffic on the side of the span usually used only for Montreal-bound traffic.