Final phase of Bonaventure demolition begins

CTV Montreal: Bonaventure demolition The final phase of the demolition of the elevated section of the Bonaventure Expressway is now underway.

The final phase of the demolition of the elevated section of the Bonaventure Expressway is now underway.

Over the next few months crews will take down the final section of the elevated highway and begin changing it into a park.

Until November access to this stretch of road from the westbound Ville Marie Highway is closed.

Meanwhile Duke St. and Nazareth St. have been expanded to four and five lanes respectively, with a counterflow lane for the afternoon rush hour.

This is very close to the final configuration for the route, which was originally proposed to have four lanes heading into Montreal and five lanes leaving the city, along with a reserved bus lane and a bike path.

The work to repave the Bonaventure started in 2011, with the federal government repairing the section of the highway it was responsible for.

However the city of Montreal decided to lower the part of the road it was responsible for, thus demolishing the highway northwest of the Lachine Canal.

Once the $140-million project is finished, in September 2017, the land that lay underneath the elevated highway will be transformed into a 40-metre wide park between the northbound and southbound lanes, for a total of 20,000 metres of greenspace.