Commuters heading into downtown Montreal were greeted by a grinding commute Friday as the Formula E, ongoing festivals and preexisting construction sites conspired to snarl traffic on the city’s south-east side.
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“I can’t get to Molson where I work,” one angry driver said.
“I guess I’ll try again.”
René-Lévesque Boulevard was a source of huge problems during the morning rush hour, as westbound lanes were closed from Jacques-Cartier Bridge to Saint-Denis Street.
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The Ville-Marie Tunnel was also closed to traffic, meaning that one of the few avenues westward into the downtown core was de Maisonneuve Boulevard.
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Montreal police said Sherbrooke Street was another option, but there was wall-to-wall traffic by 8 a.m.
Motorists, residents and merchants have already been complaining for weeks about the negative affect construction and the Formula E have on traffic, business and quality of life.
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One policeman commented to Global News that it could go down as the worst day of traffic all summer.
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The city has since put out a map of all the no-go zones in the city: