Motorists have been driving in total darkness at the Anjou interchange for nearly a month as more than 50 streetlights are affected by a power outage that the Quebec Department of Transportation is slow to repair.
“It’s dangerous. It’s not one or two streetlights that don’t work, it’s a whole row. We don’t see anything,” protests Catherine Brien, who works in the lab at night.
PHOTO MARTIN ALARIE
A total of 51 street lamps were affected due to the breakage of two switchboards.
The North Montreal resident takes Highway 25 to get downtown, a journey that hasn’t been without its stress for a month.
It must pass through the Anjou interchange at the junction of the 25 and 40 highways, where no fewer than 51 streetlights are out of order, confirms the MTQ, which is responsible for lighting the road network.
The failure was discovered on December 28, said a spokesman, Louis-André Bertrand. “There are two lighting systems in the transfer area that have a mechanical defect,” he explains.
However, he cannot say whether this break is related to the winter storm of December 23. “The outage was noticed on December 28, so we can’t connect directly,” he said.
A persistent breakdown
Ms Brien expected the lights to come back on after two or three days and was surprised that the blackout had lasted for several weeks.
Even with the high beams on, she has trouble seeing lane markings, especially in snow.
“The potholes, we don’t see them, nor the patches of ice. You have to stay relaxed,” she explains.
Louis-André Bertrand assures that the work is in progress and that it will be given “priority”, but without being able to give the timetable or the time when it will be back on.
“The problem is the wintry weather conditions. Snow and sleet hampered the underground work. The wires are buried,” he explains.
Lampposts to be replaced
The streetlights in the Anjou Cross area use high-pressure sodium lamps, a technology that is over 40 years old and will soon disappear.
In late 2021, MTQ announced that it intended to modernize the road network lighting system by switching to light-emitting diode (LED) lighting technology.
The transition to LED technology has started, but not in the Anjou transfer area, where we have to wait, said Louis-André Bertrand.
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