A brand new overpass is being demolished and rebuilt for a second time in two years due to poor planning, and Montreal’s mayor is looking for answers.
The mix-up is costing taxpayers an estimated $11 million.
“I want to first know what the hell happened,” said Mayor Denis Coderre.
The overpass leading to the Champlain Bridge, located on Highway 15 near the Wellington exit in Verdun, was originally torn down by the Jacques Cartier Champlain Bridge Corporation (JCCBC) in 2014 and rebuilt last year.
But now, the consortium in charge of building the Champlain Bridge is destroying it again. And no one seems willing to take the blame.
“What else is new. That’s Quebec, welcome to our world,” motorist Donna Hinchcliff said in response to the news.
In a written statement, The JCCBC claims they had no choice but to tear down the overpass two years ago before the plans for the new bridge were drawn up.
“We had to rebuild the overpass for safety purposes…the final plans for the corridor weren’t known when we rebuilt the structure.”
The Signature on the Saint Lawrence Construction (SSLC) consortium issued the following statement on its website.
“Despite its recent reconstruction, it wasn’t possible to keep the existing structure because it didn’t meet the technical requirements of the project.”
Montreal’s mayor promised to look into the $11 million mistake before making further comment.
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“Instead of having a politician who’s inventing answers I’m going to take a look at it and I’ll come back to it and I’ll look what’s going on through the boroughs and we’ll pick it up from there,” said Coderre.
It’s one of three overpasses in the area that have to be demolished and rebuilt, all because they don’t match up with the new plans for the Champlain Bridge.
“I don’t understand the structural engineers, they could have foreseen this before,” motorist Gabby Salvatore said. “Look what they’ve caused — instead of doing one work at a time we’re stuck going around the city. It doesn’t make sense anymore.”
The Champlain Bridge is currently being rebuilt at the cost of 4.2 billion dollars. If all goes as planned it should be completed by December 2018.