MONTREAL – For a lot of truckers like Graham Cobb, the full opening of Montreal’s Highway 30 is long-awaited good news.
“All the guys going out east and coming back from down east every single trip, and they don’t have to go through Montreal? That’s amazing,” he said recently.
At a total cost of $1.5 billion, the Highway 30 is scheduled to open Dec. 15 and it circumvents the Island of Montreal for highway traffic heading East-West or West-East.
Operated by a public-private partnership, a private company will be collecting tolls to maintain the more than 70 km of highway.
Tolls for a conventional car clock in at $1.50 but commercial vehicles pay at a graduated scale – trucks below 230 cm will be charged 75 cents per axle and $1.15 per axle for bigger rigs.
One transit consultant told Global News that the added cost was easily offset by the convenience offered by the new road.
“Montreal is probably the last major North American city to finally get a beltway,” said Rick Leckner, a consultant to Transport Quebec.
Tolls will be charged either at the booth or via transponders available at http://www.a30express.com/.
The transponders will be free until June 2013.
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