t’s official, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue is proceeding with a T-style interchange to replace two closed overpasses at Exit 41 on westbound Highway 40. The town will also build a temporary access road to alleviate traffic along Ste-Marie Rd.
On Monday, council unanimously approved a $7,700 offer from CIMA+ to prepare plans and specifications for a temporary access road between the highway exit at Ste-Marie Rd. and Anciens Combattants Blvd. As well, council voted to proceed with plans for a T-style interchange, noting it was the best option to replace the condemned overpasses just north of the highway. Work on the new temporary access road, expected to cost about $40,000, will start in August. The town still has to call for a construction tender next month. The temporary access road will be used until the T-style interchange project is realized later next year.
Mayor Paola Hawa said the cost of the access road is “absolutely” worth it considering it improves safety and traffic flow, which suffered ever since the contentious closure of the Exit 41 overpasses in March 2011.
“There’s no doubt in my mind it’s the right thing to do,” she said of the temporary access road.
Hawa mentioned that council’s decision last December to prepare an analysis of repairing the overpasses did not stall a potential T-interchange project. Last September, council ratified a deal with Transport Quebec that would cover about 70 per cent of the cost of an estimated $1.5 million for a T-interchange. “We made it clear we would keep the process going for the T-intersection, we didn’t slow it down. It kept on going,” she added. “So even if we didn’t do the study on the repairs, we would still be in the same place with the T-intersection.”
The T-intersection could be ready for use as early as fall 2015 or spring 2016, Hawa said.
The construction of the new Tstyle interchange will cost an estimated $1.7 million and the demolition of the two derelict overpasses is expected to cost about $600,000. It is anticipated the demolition will be carried out some time next winter and construction of the Tstyle interchange will then start in spring 2015.
If the town had opted at this time to do extensive repairs on the aging overpasses, the estimated cost was about $2.3 million.
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