Montreal West access to Highway 20 disappears Saturday

Transport Quebec provided this map for the Westbound Montreal West/Highway 20 detour

The Montreal West access ramps to and from Highway 20 will close at 11 p.m. Saturday, and remain closed for the next four years.

Transport Quebec is closing the Montreal West interchange as part of the Turcot Interchange rebuild that will see Highway 20 shifted toward the St. Jacques escarpment.

That means the access from Ste. Anne de Bellevue Blvd. to Highway 20 westbound, Route 138 toward the Mercier Bridge, and access to residential streets will be eliminated, as will the exit from Highway 20 east to Ste. Anne de Bellevue Blvd./St. Jacques St., via the left-hand lane.

However Transport Quebec has built a new exit, and is building a new temporary road detour for drivers.

For those heading west from St. Jacques St./Ste. Anne de Bellevue Blvd., drivers will have to turn left at thebottom of the hill onto Pullman St. , then turn right on Angrignon Rd. ,and right again on Notre Dame St. to enter Highway 20 West.

That detour can also be used to access Highway 20 East.

Drivers heading east and wanting to enter Montreal West will be able to take a new exit onto Notre Dame St. They will then be able to drive to Angrignon Blvd. and turn left, then left again on Pullman before making a sharp right-hand turn onto Ste. Anne de Bellevue Blvd.

"This is a plan that was announced eight years ago. Why more wasn't done in advance of that in order to give us more options today is the big question," said traffic consultant Rick Leckner.

These detours will be on existing roads for the next few months, but in the spring Transport Quebec will complete a new temporary road parallel to Pullman, while temporary roads next to Angrignon and from Highway 20 East to Notre Dame St. are already finished. Those temporary roads are indicated in yellow on the accompanying maps.

During the next four years construction crews will be building a new roadway for Highway 20, and will be demolishing a train tunnel that goes underneath Ste. Anne de Bellevue Rd. and Montreal-Toronto