{"id":217281,"date":"2019-06-03T21:31:32","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T01:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=217281"},"modified":"2019-06-03T21:31:32","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T01:31:32","slug":"ottawa-quebec-announce-500-million-reconstruction-of-la-fontaine-tunnel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/06\/03\/ottawa-quebec-announce-500-million-reconstruction-of-la-fontaine-tunnel\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa, Quebec announce $500 million reconstruction of La Fontaine Tunnel"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cWe’re bringing Montreal infrastructure into the 21st century,\u201d said federal Infrastructure Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, referring also to the new Samuel-de-Champlain Bridge expected to open at the end of the month. (File Photo<\/a>: Fran\u00e7ois-Philippe Champagne\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MONTREAL \u2014 The federal and Quebec governments have announced a $500-million reconstruction project for Canada’s longest highway tunnel \u2014 the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine Tunnel linking Montreal to its southern suburbs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re bringing Montreal infrastructure into the 21st century,\u201d said federal Infrastructure Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, referring also to the new Samuel-de-Champlain Bridge expected to open at the end of the month.<\/p>\n

Champagne and Quebec’s junior transport minister, Chantal Rouleau, announced the funding deal in Montreal on Monday. Work is expected to begin in 2020 and last until 2024.<\/p>\n

The investment in the 52-year-old tunnel \u2014 one of five links between Montreal and the south shore \u2014 will extend its life span by 40 years.<\/p>\n

No fewer than 47 million vehicles use the La Fontaine tunnel every year, Champagne said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s the longest highway tunnel in Canada,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Planned work includes pavement, lighting, vaults, walls, signage and a fire protection system, as well as repaving of the highway between Boucherville and Montreal and necessary infrastructure for public transportation on highways linking to the tunnel.<\/p>\n

Champagne wouldn’t say how the funding would be divided between the governments, so as not to compromise the tendering process set to open soon.<\/p>\n

He said it was important to announce the project to allow for preparatory work.<\/p>\n

Rouleau said about 13 per cent of the vehicles that use the tunnel daily are heavy trucks.<\/p>\n

She said the massive re-construction will cause some obstacles, but the province is planning mitigation measures including parking spots to encourage public transit use and lanes for buses and car pooling.<\/p>\n

There’s also a consideration of a river shuttle between Montreal and its southern suburbs.<\/p>\n

There will also be an emphasis on communication with residents impacted by the work, Rouleau said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe work being announced today \u2014 everyone knew it had to be done,\u201d Rouleau said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL \u2014 The federal and Quebec governments have announced a $500-million reconstruction project for Canada’s longest highway tunnel \u2014 the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":217282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-217281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-lia-levesque","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217281"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":217287,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217281\/revisions\/217287"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}