The Dorval overpass linking A20 to the Trudeau Airport is a long, complicated project many Montreal drivers are anxious to see completed.
Transports Quebec insists work on the interchange is still on schedule to be completed by the end of 2017.
“The direct link between Highway 20 and the airport will be finished by the end of this year,” Martin Girard, a spokesperson for Transports Quebec, told Global News.
Legal disputes with CP Rail, CN, and a hotel stopped the project in its tracks a few years ago. Transports Quebec never secured permission to build on land owned by the rail companies, and the entire construction project had to be renegotiated.
The work stoppage delayed the project and led to massive cost overruns. Transports Quebec won’t say if the department learned any lessons from that situation.
“It’s difficult for me. I don’t know if a mistake was made or not,” Girard said.
Dorval’s mayor says he’s looking forward to the end of construction on the critical exchange, but Edgar Rouleau insists the provincial transportation department should learn from the process.
“Make sure you get all the signatures before you start,” Rouleau said.
When the overpass is complete, Transport Quebec still has more road work around the airport to complete that will last until 2019 — meaning that construction on the entire project will have lasted ten years.