Major Mercier Bridge closure starts July 17

Work by the Quebec transport ministry (MTMD) on the Mercier Bridge will be taking place during the two-week construction holiday period, causing a complete closure of the Kahnawake-bound side of the bridge.

The closure is set to last from July 17 at 11 p.m. to August 3 at 5 a.m. and will result in a single lane in each direction being available for motorists on the Montreal-bound side, making the bridge still traversable in both directions. The Airlie entrance and bus lane from LaSalle towards Kahnawake will also be closed.

The concrete deck on the span towards Kahnawake will be replaced by the MTMD, which will also come with a repaving of that side of the bridge since the pavement will have to be removed for the concrete replacement.

David Lahache, transportation coordinator for the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK), said that the work is needed because of the amount of pressure being put on the concrete deck.

Potholes, for example, are one way the concrete receives additional pressure.

“All those cement patchworks that you see right now that make the road very bumpy, those are what we call pavement failures, but it’s not the pavement that’s really failing, it’s underneath,” said Lahache.

“Once you get a pothole, people keep hitting that pothole, the pavement has to go somewhere. Most of the time it’s pushed out of the hole, but there’s also pressure going downwards. If you have rotted rebar in your concrete, it’s going to push through, it’s going to weaken the structure.”

Lahache hopes the deck replacement will last for a few more years, but the age of the bridge and the kind of traffic that goes over it on a daily basis could make that difficult.

“It wasn’t built last year. It’s an old span,” said Lahache.

“When it was built, it didn’t see traffic like we’re seeing today. We didn’t see huge, heavy trucks coming over, and now the Mercier Bridge is a major link to the South Shore: Highway 30, Highway 50, to the States. We have a lot of truck traffic coming through on the bridge, and that does cause wear and tear on the span.”

The closure is taking place during the construction holiday because of the reduction in average traffic volume during that period of the summer, Lahache said, as many Quebecers take their summer vacation during that time.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be any traffic at all, though.

“With the Mercier Bridge, whenever you have one lane in each direction, you’re always going to get a backup on the Kahnawake side,” said Lahache.

Traffic usually is at its peak around 7:30-8:00 a.m. and 5-5:30 p.m. coinciding with when stores open and close in LaSalle and on the South Shore, said Lahache.

“Don’t forget, even though we have one lane of traffic in each direction, if there’s a stall or an accident that requires some kind of emergency response or tow truck, sometimes we have to stop traffic altogether to allow them to flow in the opposite direction to get to where the stall accident is, so there’s also that unknown,” he said.

“If you don’t want to get stuck in traffic, or you have somewhere to be, leave early or find an alternate route. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

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