As the busy summer vacation travel season moves into high gear, many drivers in Quebec are being forced to slow down as they head to and from the United States.
The long-awaited completion of autoroute 35 to the U.S. border has been delayed again as work near Pike River was suspended.
Karine Abdel, a spokesperson for Transports-Quebec, told Global News a supply chain issue with steel beams has caused the delay.
A nine-kilometer stretch of the highway was supposed to be completed by the end of this year.
Abdel said she doesn’t know now when that will happen.
The delays mean drivers will have to continue using Route 133, a meandering three-lane secondary road just north of the U.S. border.
Some business owners are disappointed that finishing a major section of the A35 won’t occur this year.
“It’s sad. I did not know that, but it’s not good news,” Luc Guillet, who works at a farm equipment sales and repair shop, told Global News.
His business is located on Route 133 and he would love to have the heavy vehicle traffic diverted to a new autoroute.
Truck drivers will also benefit from a new autoroute as it will speed up travel time between Canada and the U.S.
“It will obviously enhance our times and security,” said Éric Cadieux of the Quebec Trucking Association.
But some small business owners on Route 133 are not looking forward to a new highway, saying they’re concerned about losing sales as people take the faster autoroute.
”The people won’t stop here. They’ll go to Montreal straight, (on the new A35), yes,” said Bianka Smith-Leclerc, manager of the General Store in Pike River.
Boston resident Gino Rinalda agrees.
He says he visits Montreal at least once a year and laments the loss of sales for small shopkeepers on Route 133 once the new highway is finally built.
”If you bypass it, they dry up. What can I say? I’m for the little guy,” Rinalda said.
There is still no start date for work to resume on the A35, meaning its eventual completion remains a question mark.