What went into rebuilding the Turcot Interchange? As it officially opens, province tallies it up

The rebuilt Turcot Interchange (Photo: Government of Quebec/Facebook)

Montreal — All those years of traffic jams and rerouting are finally about to officially pay off: the last on- and off-ramps for the rebuilt Turcot Interchange opened to traffic this morning, those for Pullman Blvd.

Some work remains for next spring, the province said in a news release, but the interchange is now completely open for business.

That means the province can now tally up everything involved in the five-year project. Quebec’s minister of transport, François Bonnardel, said in the release that the project was finished on time and on budget.

Overall, the work included three bridges, 145 kilometres of roadway, 21 kilometres of railway and 56 structures, according to the release.

There were some new features built, as well: 10 kilometres of reserved lanes to encourage sustainable transport, and eight kilometres of “multifunctional” bike paths.

The project overall was, or will eventually be, carbon-neutral, the province said, because it is undertaking a major greening project that involves planting 9,000 trees, 61,000 shrubs, plus perennial plants, grasses and climbing vines.

At peak times, more than 1,000 construction workers were on site.

Overall, the project required 45 million square metres of backfill, 4,567 steel beams, 490,000 square metres of retaining walls and over four million square metres of concrete coating.

Bonnardel thanked “all citizens of the metropolitan region” for their patience.

To celebrate the achievement, the province posted a video set to music about the Turcot Interchange, its history and transformation.