Dorval Tunnel now open for Montreal drivers

The Dorval Tunnel on Highway 13 in Montreal’s West Island reopened to traffic Thursday morning after being closed for several days due to flooding, but other closures are expected this weekend.

The Transport Ministry announced around 5 a.m. Thursday that Highway 13 would be accessible to motorists in both directions between Highway 40 and 520.

However, two ramps on Highway 520 West to reach Highway 13 North and Highway 13 North towards Highway 520 West, will remain closed for an indefinite period.

“We expect many road closures because it’s something that we have never done before,” said Transport Quebec Spokesperson Gilles Payer. “So, if the work goes fast, it’s okay. We expect it to take some time. For this week, we expect the work take the whole Saturday.”

Adding, “The operation of clean up went well last evening and all through the night. The lanes opened around 3:20, 3:25 on the 13, so everything has been successfully done. And the lanes are open, but this is not over.” 

The tunnel was reopened after workers restored some of the water’s pumping capacity and installed temporary lighting fixtures.

Highway 13 will close again this weekend to fully restore the pumping station that was damaged by the heavy rains that fell last Friday from Tropical Storm Debby.

“With the rain forecast, the closure will also allow the ministry to ensure that the pumping system is effective in removing water from the traffic lanes,” the ministry said in a statement, warning that the work could take several weeks.

Highway 13 will be completely closed between Highway 40 and 520 from Friday 11:59 p.m. to Sunday at 5 a.m.

“For the sake of coordination and due to weather forecasts,” the closure of the Île-aux-Tourtes bridge that was planned for this weekend has been cancelled.

The Dorval tunnel had been closed indefinitely due to the flooding. The ministry initially hoped to reopen the section by Wednesday.

Gilles noted that if more road closures are needed, they’ll make the necessary adjustments.

“So each week, we will announce in advance what kind of time we need and what we will close on Highway 13.”

The closure of Highway 13 in Montreal has had a significant impact on the operations and bottom line of certain businesses nearby.

“We depend on foot traffic, we need people to come and be able to visit our showroom and everything, but now you see so much traffic, people tend to avoid the area completely. So it is very frustrating as a long term because we don’t know how long this is going to be going on, you know?” asked Rishab Ravikanth, the co-owner of Marbre and Granite Rishab.

“I just hope they’re able to fix it in a good manner and it doesn’t happen as often because it’s just rain, right. But one day of rain, it messes up a couple of weeks of work for so many commuters around here. I just hope it gets better fast.”

Ravikanth isn’t the only business, Skander Sedeghiani the owner of Meubles SD Discount says, “The last weekend we lost like 60 to 70 per cent of our customer because of the inundation and there is already Construction of the 520 like it’s been six months ago. So it’s really frustrating for us Especially if we don’t know how long it’s gonna take for to repair the problem of the inundation.”

Adding, “People, they will not come especially if they see on his GPS it takes two hour to come here, he’s gonna lose all his day just to came here and to go back two hours. And they already does affect us in another way, we will do deliveries in all the Montreal area. So instead of taking 30 minutes for example to do a delivery to the east of Montreal Now it’s gonna take us like two hours.”

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews