LASALLE — Darlene Desjardins’ new office might as well be in her car instead of at a desk.
She lives in LaSalle and drives to Pointe-Claire every day, but because of ongoing construction across the island, she spends more time behind the wheel.
“You go to Highway 20 towards the Champlain Bridge, and it’s bad,” she lamented.
“If you try to go out west it’s bad that way too. You basically have to get a boat to get off the island.”
Traffic is rolling off both the Mercier Bridge and Angrignon overpass, flooding onto LaSalle’s local roads.
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“It’s quite an adventure. It used to take me 10 minutes to get to the highway with all the lights. Now it takes me 25,” said Desjardins.
She’s not alone.
Tara Wilson lives in LaSalle and works downtown.
She gets up early to try and beat the rush.
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“Even leaving at 7 a.m., it was taking 40 minutes,” she said.
“It doesn’t matter what time you leave at, you still get stuck in that traffic.”
One of Wilson’s major hindrances is crossing the Lachine Canal.
There are only a few bridges and the ones that are open are covered in orange cones.
“Between one end of the Lachine Canal and the other, there are 11 places to cross,” said traffic analyst, Rick Leckner.
“Almost eight or nine of them are under construction, so it’s a very difficult time. Lasalle is being particularly hit.”
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Both Wilson and Desjardins argue there’s room for improvement, even as major projects like the Turcot Interchange are being rebuilt.
“They take a long time to get moving and that’s where the delay is in traffic, when you only have a three second light to turn left,” said Desjardins.
“There are signs up telling you, you can go this or that way but it kills your livelihood trying to plan for all that. Extra traffic is really frustrating,” said Wilson.
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