MONTREAL-Construction woes in the West Island, have drivers losing patience.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” says one commuter.
“It takes you forever to get anywhere at this time of day.”
Major road work has narrowed lanes on highway 40 along a nine kilometer stretch, between St-Charles boulevard in Kirkland, to almost the western tip of the Island.
Trying to navigate your way around the labyrinth of detours and road signs is very complicated.
“You can sit for half an hour. It’s very badly configured,” complained one driver.
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Transports Quebec is spending fifty million dollars to resurface this section of the Trans-Canada Highway with concrete.
The transportation department is also building a new water basin to handle surface water runoff after major downpours.
That will be a welcome addition on rainy days, when sudden flooding causes cars to become stuck.
Some drivers however fear there is no end in sight to the construction chaos.
“It’s really a nightmare. I don’t know when they’re going to be finished. It’s been like this for a long time.”
Drivers will have to pack a lot of patience as they battle their way through the traffic and construction on highway 40, but Transports Quebec officials are trying to reassure them, promising it will all soon come to an end.
“By the end of this year it should be done,” says Mario St-Pierre of Transports Quebec.
St-Pierre insists the work is necessary to deal with the booming off-island housing start-ups, which are putting more and more vehicles on the roads.
A good dose of patience is being prescribed for drivers trying to beat this summer’s road construction blues.
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