It's hard to believe that traffic on the island of Montreal can get any worse — but it will.
On Friday, Transport Quebec officials warned of what's to come as the multi-year project to tear down and rebuild the Turcot interchange continues.
Next weekend — the Thanksgiving long weekend — crews will finish demolishing the St. Jacques overpass, which will force the closure of a ramp from the westbound Ville Marie to the Decarie Expressway.
And that's just the beginning.
In mid-October, the transport department will close one ramp between the 20 toward the eastbound Ville-Marie Expressway, and in mid-November, the eastbound portion of the Ville-Marie will be demolished, which will mean eastbound access will go down to two lanes each way from four, from the Turcot interchange to the tunnel.
Those closures will be in effect until 2018.
Transport minister Laurent Lessard says he hopes more people will take public transit while the work goes on — adding the ministry is trying to make arrangements with the STM and the AMT in order to boost service in response to the looming traffic nightmare.
For more information on said nightmare, visit Transport Quebec's information web site.