le-aux-Tourtes bridge to close this weekend, have further lane reductions due to cracked beam

Construction to fix a crackin a beam on the le-aux-Tourtesbridge will close the span completely this weekend.

Starting Friday at 11:59 p.m. and extending until Monday at 5 a.m., the bridgewill be closed while Transports Qubec workers reconfigure its lanes.

Starting Monday, the bridge will reopen, but with only threeof its six lanes two heading in the direction of rush-hour traffic, one in the other direction.

Two east-bound lanes will be open toward Montreal in the morning between midnight and 9:30 a.m. andtwo west-bound lanes will be openbetween 11:30 a.m. and 10 p.m. and all day on weekends.

The work is expected to last at least a year and cause significant traffic disruptions.

"The ministry is aware that this new configuration will have a significant impact on road users' travel times," a ministry news release said."Whenever possible, we recommend using public transport or telecommuting."

To ease traffic pressure on and nearthe bridge, Highway 30, a toll roadthat allows drivers to go around the bridge, will be free on Saturday and Sunday.

Transports Qubecstarting Nov. 29, there will be three extra commuter trains running on the Exo Vaudreuil-Hudson line:

• Train #16, leaving Vaudreuil at 7:30 a.m.
• Train #12, leaving Hudson at 6:14 a.m.
• Train #21 leaving Lucien L'Allier station at 4:40 p.m. and ending at Hudson station.

The extra trains are in addition to extra buses that have been added to public transit, with financial support from the province.

Construction hasbeen ongoing on the bridge aftera crack was discovered in a support beam last week. Work was already underway and only two of the bridge's three lanes were open in each direction.