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Work is now set to start on the massive makeover of the area between the southern fringe of the industrial park of the Le Sud-Ouest Borough and the Bonaventure Expressway. The new Gaétan Laberge urban boulevard linking the Verdun Borough to downtown Montreal will be a major upgrade for local road users.

Signature on the Saint Lawrence’s highway team has spent the last few months putting detours in place along with partial and complete closures, including those at Exit 60 from Highway 15, which closed for one year starting July 25. A new off-ramp, Exit 57 West for downtown, was also created to minimize the impact on motorists coming from Highway 15 South.

Among other things, these disruptions and detours will optimize work sites so crews can proceed with the area’s large-scale transformation work.

In keeping with the City of Montreal’s vision of creating more people-oriented and environmentally integrated spaces, the new Gaétan Laberge Boulevard will have no elevated structures (overpasses). This led to SSL’s tearing down of two local overpasses a few weeks ago, despite their recent renovation by Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Incorporated (JCCBI).

Demolition of another overpass will begin in the coming days as part of this project, with no impact on traffic expected. While the existing structure was recently rebuilt, keeping it was not possible. It no longer met the project’s technical requirements and did not fit in with the new highway leading to the new Champlain Bridge. Once demolished, the overpass will be rebuilt in accordance with the new roadway geometry, which had to be changed to accommodate the widening of Highway 15 and construction of the new L’Île-des-Sœurs Bridge.

Ultimately, the whole sector will benefit from the work, which is projected to end in 2018.

The demolitions for the New Champlain Bridge Project are part of a larger environmental program for the recycling and/or reuse of construction materials.