Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Quebec’s Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility is marking the completion of repair work on the first traffic tube of the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine Tunnel.
Traffic will gradually be transferred to the renovated portion of the tunnel starting April 28. Work on the second tube will then begin. The opening of both tunnel tubes, with two lanes in each direction, is still scheduled for late fall 2026.
Nothing was visible from the outside, but up to 350 workers took turns 22 hours a day, 7 days a week, to carry out work inside the tube, in the service corridor and in the ventilation towers. This is without counting the hundred workers who continue the tasks outside, in particular the reconstruction of the slabs of Highway 25 and the repair of the Souligny interchange.
The Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine Tunnel Project is No. 34 on ReNew Canada’s 2025 Top100 Projects report.
Complete tunnel closures will be required for two consecutive weekends to transfer traffic into the renovated tube. On the weekend of April 25, the southbound direction will be closed, and overnight closures will be required in the northbound direction. The South Shore-bound traffic lane will then be transferred into the renovated tube. From May 2 to 5, the northbound direction will be closed, and overnight closures will be required in the southbound direction.
Once traffic is transferred to the renovated tube, the lane configuration will remain the same, with one lane open towards the South Shore and two lanes open towards Montreal.
The tube renovation included work on the concrete screed, walls, vault and roadway, as well as the modernization of operating equipment (electrical and lighting systems, ventilation, monitoring and communication).
The renovation of the ventilation towers included structural repairs and replacement of the cladding and exhaust fans. The same work will be carried out in the other tube.
The main steps to come:
- The completion of work on Highway 25 northbound and at the Souligny interchange, including the reopening of the eastbound Souligny Avenue ramp to Highway 25 northbound, still planned for fall 2025.
- The opening of the two tubes is expected in late autumn 2026.
- The reopening will be two lanes in each direction until spring 2027 in order to complete work on the approaches.
- Completion and landscaping work will be carried out throughout 2027.
Before the major repair project began in July 2020, an average of 120,000 vehicles used the tunnel daily. Traffic volumes have remained relatively stable since the major disruptions began in the fall of 2022. This spring, just over 55,000 vehicles used the tunnel daily.
From November 2022 to February 2025, nearly 1,800,000 weekday trips were made on bus routes funded under the project. Mitigation measures will remain in place until the major disruptions are resolved.
Featured image: (Quebec Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility)
