On the first day of the announced ordeal of the closure of half of the lanes of the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel, Le Journal embarked with a trucker who had gone to look for a refrigerated container, which could be used to bring back cranberries for Christmas.

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To do this, a TYT Group truck picked up our journalist at dawn in Sainte-Julie, on the South Shore of Montreal, before going to take the tunnel bridge.

Before the big departure, Patrick Turcotte, president of the TYT Group, explained that his driver had the mission to fetch a container, which could later be used to bring back cranberries from the Fruit d'Or processor.

Monday, at six fifteen in the morning sharp, our truck driver, Denis Auclair, was ready to go and throw himself into the mouth of the wolf.

6:15 a.m. - Departure

6:45 a.m. - A first traffic jam

7 a.m. - In Montreal, direction Rive-Sud, already blocked before the entrance to the bridge

7:08 a.m. - Arrival in Montreal, a trip twice as long as normal

7:30 a.m. - Departure from Hunt (direction Rive-Sud)

8:18 am - Return to Sainte-Julie

The worst to come

Upon his return, Denis Auclair, felt he had been spared despite some delays due to the Halloween party, which may have encouraged some workers to take time off.

“Tomorrow is going to be a hell of a lot more. As much north as south, but more south,” shared the driver, who is 28 behind the tie.

“The lanes reserved for buses near the port take away our lanes for circulation. My fear is that it will remain permanent, after the end of the work, ”he says.

At the Journal, Denis is also sorry to see cars with only one person and even trucks in the lanes reserved for buses and carpooling.

“If we could drive in the reserved bus lane, we could save a lot of time in traffic,” he points out.

According to him, emergency vehicles could even have difficulty moving, which could cause even more problems.