MONTREAL – Both lanes of the still-functioning part of the Mercier Bridge were reopened to traffic toward the South Shore about 1:30 p.m. Friday after workers repaired a hole in the span’s deck.
The lanes will remain open through the Friday afternoon rush hour, said Réal Grégoire, a spokesperson for the Quebec Transportation Department.
The hole will be permanently repaired overnight, Grégoire said.
The still-open part of the bridge will be down to one lane during the repairs between 10 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. Saturday, he said.
After 9 a.m. Saturday, the still-open part of the bridge will be back to two lanes – one Montreal-bound, the other toward the South Shore.
The bridge had been narrowed to one lane Friday morning as work crews scrambled to repair the hole.
The hole in the deck was first noticed about 7:20 a.m. Friday.
Initially, media reports said the hole was a pothole.
"No, this is a hole through the bridge," Mario St-Pierre, a spokesperson for Transport Quebec, said late Friday morning. "You can see right through it."
A metal plate was placed over the hole and the lane was reopened briefly about 10:15 a.m., but then it was closed again as officials realized the plate was not sufficient for safety.
Asked how Transport Quebec could not have noticed the hole in the deck or how it could have formed so quickly – virtually overnight, it would seem – St-Pierre blamed wear and tear.
"This part of the bridge was built in 1963," St-Pierre said. "It’s the heavy usage and the constant weight of vehicles, including trucks."
This week, the outbound side of the span was completely closed to traffic for the summer because urgent repairs are needed on 10 of the span’s gusset plates.
The plan is to alternate inbound and outbound traffic on the side of the span usually used only for Montreal-bound vehicles.
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