The new transport minister, Geneviève Guilbault, reminded on Tuesday that traffic in the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel is everyone’s business and urged users, employers and truck drivers to be flexible.
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The partial closure of the tunnel is to come into effect next Monday, October 31.
“We have a huge mobility challenge ahead of us next Monday,” Minister Guilbault immediately admits.
Geneviève Guilbault invites people to seek solutions and offers theirs.
“If everyone takes it upon themselves, takes it upon themselves to find an alternative to the car, to change their trips, to work remotely instead of going to the office, to find a way to change their lifestyle, we will be able to downsize Traffic in the tunnel and we’ll be fine,” she said.
The minister also points out that the government’s options are limited and a concerted effort is needed to minimize traffic in the tunnel.
“It’s going to be tough, then we can’t perform miracles. The only miracle is when everyone takes their small share of responsibility, and when together as government we make a more general appeal to partners and employers to both be flexible when it comes to teleworking, and maybe play within delivery times,” she said to.
The traffic is there, whether we like it or not, the minister reminds us, and will seek everyone’s goodwill.
“Nobody has an interest in denying themselves and doing nothing, then everyone gets stuck in the tunnel at the same time: you can’t get into the office anymore anyway,” she explains.
Even if everyone is doing their part, there is currently no panacea for announced traffic jams.
“It’s going to be tough again. I don’t want to pretend that traffic will disappear overnight if there are two or three of us taking the bus. On the contrary, everyone has to make their contribution in the long term, we have three years,” she explains.
Remember that work on the Louis Hippolyte La Fontaine Bridge Tunnel will begin on Monday 31 October and will result in the closure of 2 southbound lanes and 1 northbound lane by 2025.