BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1019 Report

The Île aux Tourtes Bridge will be closed in both directions again this weekend, in what will be the first of two weekend closures of the span in September, Transport Quebec officials have confirmed.

The bridge will be closed in both directions as of midnight the night of Friday, Sept. 6, and reopen in the early morning hours of Monday, Sept. 9.

The span will close completely again at midnight the night of Friday, Sept. 20, and reopen in the early morning hours of Monday, Sept. 23.

These moves come following last weekend’s three-day closure of Exit 41 along the eastbound lanes of Highway 40, that leads to Des Anciens Combattants Blvd. in Ste. Anne de Bellevue. This closure was mandated to carry out work on the drainage capacity that is part of the construction of the new span.

In June, Transport Quebec officials announced it would start installing a steel structure under a portion of the east end of the bridge to provide additional support to the structure.

The work, which is planned to continue into the winter of 2024, is described by government officials as providing “increased security for the structure,” and deemed necessary to limit the risk of additional lane closures on the span.

The streel structures will remain in place until the old bridge is town down, Transport Quebec stated in a release in June.

The work would also include setting up two jetties by the old bridge near the eastern shore in Senneville that would serve as a work area, allowing workers to install piles. The new steel structure would then rest on the piles and provide additional support for the old bridge’s main beams.

“Work to reinforce the beams in the centre of the bridge continues,” Transport Quebec said in a statement.

Transport Quebec “continues to make every effort to open lanes on the current bridge by the end of the fall 2024,” officials said, adding to the current three open lanes on the span on most days, with two lanes in the direction of rush-hour traffic and one lane in the opposite direction.

No specific timeline on the opening of additional lanes is available.

Nine closures since January

Since the beginning of 2024, the bridge has seen four complete closures in both directions, including two overnight shutdowns in January and May, and two weekend shutdowns, in March and May, according to information The 1019 Report has obtained from Transport Quebec.

The span has also been subject to five additional partial closures since January, including three overnight closures of the eastbound lanes, at the end of January and twice in May; and two overnight shutdowns of the westbound lanes, in March and April.