It will be a difficult weekend for drivers in the downtown area. Montreal’s 375th anniversary festivities, the Formula E race, fireworks, and various festivals will create several bottlenecks, especially by tomorrow evening.
The Ville-Marie Expressway will be closed this weekend going west. The Formula E race will have the Ville-Marie and Viger Ave. completely closed going west between de Lorimier Ave. and Lucien-L’Allier St., from Thursday at 9 p.m. to Monday at 5 a.m.
Motorists can detour north on de Lorimier, west on de Maisonneuve Blvd., north on St-Laurent Blvd., south on Metcalfe St., west on St-Antoine St., and west at the Lucien-L’Allier entrance to the Ville-Marie going west.
Exit seven to the Jacques-Cartier Bridge and exit six to Berri St., will also be closed until Monday morning.
The Jacques-Cartier Bridge will be closed in both directions on Saturday night from 8:30 p.m. to 11:45 p.m. due to the fireworks.
At the St-Pierre interchange, the ramp from Highway 138 going east (Mercier Bridge) onto Highway 20 going east toward downtown will be completely closed from Friday night until Monday morning.
Drivers can detour onto Highway 20 going west, Richmond St., 1st Ave., Montreal-Toronto Blvd., St-Joseph Blvd., Notre-Dame St., Angrignon Blvd. and Highway 20 going east.
At the Turcot interchange, the ramp on Highway 15 going south (towards Decarie) for Route 136 east will be completely closed from Friday night to Monday morning.
The ramp for Highway 20 going east (towards downtown) will also be completely closed from Friday night to Monday morning.
From Friday night to Saturday morning, drivers can detour on Highway 15 going south, using exit 61 for Atwater Ave., St-Jacques St., Robert-Bourassa Blvd. and St-Antoine St.
From Saturday to Monday morning, motorists can detour for the Ville-Marie Expressway going east using Highway 15 south, Highway 10 west (towards Bonaventure), Duke St. or St-Antoine St.
The entrances for Route 720 east (Ville-Marie tunnel) at Notre-Dame and de la Cathédrale Sts. will remain open.
Free public transport
The city will be offering free public transport to compensate for the road closures. Access to the STM buses and metro will be free from 5 am tomorrow morning until 5 am Monday. BIXI bikes will also be free this weekend. Normally they are free on the last Sunday of each month, which is the case this weekend anyway.
—Elyssia-Marie Campbell