On Friday December 1, the Ministère des Transports et de la Mobilité durable informed Vaudreuil-Soulanges residents of a change in configuration on the Île-aux-Tourtes bridge. In place for the winter season, it now allows only one lane per direction, at all times. It's a measure that's provoked discontent among many motorists. 

A simple visit to social networks reveals a widespread wave of discontent among motorists and residents of Vaudreuil-Soulanges who have to travel to the metropolis for work, study, medical or personal reasons. 

Here's a sample of the comments: 

"I took the bridge yesterday and while people say trucks aren't the problem, there were three trucks for every car on the bridge. I was surrounded by trucks and saw nothing but trucks as far as the eye could see. Given the state of the bridge, how safe is it to have that many trucks idling in traffic? I find it hard to believe that all those trucks couldn't be diverted. I was so afraid the bridge would collapse under that weight. I won't be going that way again." 

"I don't know about you, but tonight a commute that takes me twenty minutes took me 2 hours and 20 minutes and on top of that hundreds of trucks on the highway. There were no lights on the bridge ... It looked like the apocalypse." 

"I usually try not to post anything negative, but I'm blown away by the insanity of these Quebec roads.It's 11pm and I'm stuck in 30m of traffic.There's something seriously wrong with this province's road infrastructure. I have no words."

"As a dental student, I'm going to suffer a lot over the next few months. Mental health is at an all-time low, if I leave at 5:30 a.m. to be at school at 8 a.m. and leave downtown at 5 p.m. to go home at 8 p.m..It's so unfair and sad, I'd take the train, but the schedule means my hours are the same, plus it won't be going downtown starting in April because of the renovations at Lucien L'Allier.I really don't know what I'm going to do for the next while."

Many deplore the major traffic jams created by this new configuration, as can be read in these few publications: 

"It took me 1h45 this morning (Tuesday, December 5) and 1h30 for the return and I work on Morgan Boulevard," says a motorist from Vaudreuil-Soulanges. 

"It took me 1h20 this morning from Vaudreuil-Dorion to Pincourt and 33 minutes for the return, but I left Kirkland at 2h10 pm and it was already congested. Ridiculous," reports another.

"From Saint-Lazare to Montreal, it took me 3 hours in the morning and 1 hour 10 minutes at the end of the day on Highway 30," says another. 

"From Hudson to Morgan Boulevard, leaving at 9:30 a.m., it took me 1h20 to get to my destination.Coming back at 4pm, it took me 1h55 to get home.It's a disaster", commented another. 

The reopening of a third lane and the return to dynamic traffic management during the week will be possible once the repair work on the damaged slab is complete, the MTMD advised in a recent press release.This will enable two of the three lanes to be kept open in the direction of traffic flow during peak periods.However, the work will take several weeks to complete. 

In closing, a peaceful demonstration is planned for Friday, December 15 at 9 a.m. in front of 3050 Boulevard de la Gare in Vaudreuil-Dorion, to give a voice to those whose lives are affected by traffic on the bridge.