The La Fontaine Tunnel is half closed, so listed below are your choices -

Your information to navigating — and, hopefully, avoiding — three years of commuter site visitors chaos.

Site visitors is tied up within the strategy to La Fontaine Tunnel in Montreal on Oct. 13, 2022. Photograph by Allen McInnis /Montreal Gazette

If the work on the La Fontaine tunnel impacts you, we wish to hear from you. Electronic mail citynews@montrealgazette.com to share your story.

On Monday, the $2.3-billion renovation of the Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine Tunnel begins a three-year interval the place the variety of site visitors lanes is lowered to half of its normal capability, with lanes in each instructions sharing one-half of the tunnel. This can trigger site visitors jams throughout rush hours, and the Quebec authorities and native transit businesses have put in place varied measures to mitigate its results and supply different choices for South Shore commuters.

They’re urging those that usually drive by the tunnel — about 120,000 automobiles every day — to make use of different choices.

Underneath the renovation plan, the southbound tunnel shall be closed totally for a 12 months and a half, after which the northbound tunnel shall be closed for an additional 12 months and a half. In each circumstances, two lanes shall be open towards Montreal and one lane towards the South Shore always. The bottleneck might trigger commute instances to triple or quadruple.

Your choices

Free park-and-ride shuttles: One other 800 parking spots have been added to 5 South Shore park-and-ride tons, bringing the whole to 2,400. Free shuttle buses will take folks from these tons to the Radisson métro station, and till Nov. 27 passengers on these free shuttles shall be given two free fares to proceed their journey on public transit to their vacation spot.

Boucherville:

De Mortagne parking zone (Mortagne Blvd. and Freeway 20): 294 parking areas, 4 charging stations, 14 bike parking areas. Free RTL buses 61 or 461 to Radisson métro station.
De Touraine parking zone (Touraine Rd. and Freeway 20): 333 parking areas. Free RTL buses 61 or 461 to Radisson métro station.

Ste-Julie:

Ste-Julie parking zone (Fer-à-Cheval Rd. and Freeway 20): 953 parking areas, 70 bike parking areas. Free Exo buses 520 or 521 to Radisson métro station.

Beloeil:

Beloeil parking zone (Industrie St., close to Richelieu St.): 198 parking areas, 20 bike parking areas. Free Exo buses 520 or 521 to Radisson métro station.

Varennes:

Varennes terminus (Jules-Phaneuf St.): 128 parking areas, 12 bike parking areas. Free Exo bus 532 to Radisson métro station.

Carpooling: Automobiles with no less than three occupants can use a bus/taxi reserved lane on Freeway 20 westbound, between Ste-Julie and Boucherville. (Buses shall be allowed to journey alongside the shoulder in that space.) Providers like covoiturage.ca and Netlift can join drivers with carpool passengers.

Present and improved public transit choices:

Service has been elevated with added trains on the métro’s Yellow Line.
Extra buses have been added to South Shore routes that serve the Longueuil terminus, subsequent to the Longueuil–Université-de-Sherbrooke métro station
The Mont-St-Hilaire commuter prepare gives an choice to commuters, with free parking tons at every station.
New shared taxis (RTL routes T89, T92 and T93) have been created serving the Boucherville industrial park.
The STM has added a brand new shuttle bus, No. 822 Longue-Pointe, that connects the Radisson métro station with native locations together with the SAQ headquarters and CFB Longue-Pointe.

River shuttle: A ferry taking pedestrians and bicycles from Boucherville to Bellerive Park in Montreal’s Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough will proceed till Nov. 13, and be free, although it is strongly recommended to make a reservation. The ferry departs about each 45 minutes throughout rush hour and takes about half-hour. It additionally operates on weekends in the course of the day.

Biking: Although the tunnel doesn’t enable cyclists, different hyperlinks between Montreal and the South Shore do have bicycle lanes, together with the Jacques-Cartier and Samuel-De Champlain bridges. The river shuttle additionally accepts bicycles. There are additionally bicycle parking choices in any respect commuter prepare stations, a number of park-and-ride stations and the Longueuil—Université-de-Sherbrooke métro station.

Different bridges:

Jacques-Cartier Bridge: Working usually
Victoria Bridge: One lane solely towards Montreal within the morning and towards Longueuil within the afternoon
Samuel-De Champlain Bridge: Working usually, although work to dismantle the outdated bridge might disrupt some accesses to it on the South Shore on weekends, significantly alongside Route 132
Mercier Bridge: Working usually, however down to 1 lane on some weekends

Different choices being thought-about

Ban solo drivers throughout rush hour: Michel Leblanc, the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal, instructed vehicles with no passengers ought to be barred from the tunnel throughout rush hours, and solely carpoolers, truckers and public transit automobiles ought to be permitted throughout that interval. The Quebec authorities says it’s open to the concept, however will wait to see how present mitigation measures work out first.

Additional reductions of public transit fares: Free shuttles are being offered throughout the tunnel, however the metropolis of Montreal has requested the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain to check all fare choices as a way to greatest encourage the usage of public transit.

Issues

REM is late: The Réseau specific métropolitain, which was anticipated to open its South Shore leg to Brossard in December, has been delayed till the spring. South Shore buses will, subsequently, proceed utilizing the Samuel-De Champlain Bridge to achieve downtown Montreal at rush hour.

Victoria Bridge reopening is late: Work on the Victoria Bridge, which was anticipated to finish in September, will proceed till December. Consequently, just one lane shall be open, towards Montreal in the course of the morning and towards Longueuil in the course of the afternoon and night.

River shuttles shut for the season: Whereas a ferry for pedestrians and cyclists will proceed to function between Boucherville and Montreal’s Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough will proceed, others, together with one between Boucherville and the Previous Port, have ended their seasons and won’t resume till the spring. “Contractual causes” stop the Previous Port river shuttle from persevering with additional into the autumn.