AN EASIER TRIP TO MONTREAL
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the June 13th edition of the County Courier. Subscribe to the print edition to stay up to date with what’s going on in your community.
QUEBEC: The Canadian Government announced last week that a new highway will be built to better connect Vermonters with Montreal.
Autoroute 35 is the primary connection between Interstate 89 in Highgate and the thoroughfares that intertwine Montreal. Motorists traveling north would travel through the Customs checkpoint, and immediately begin traveling on a two-lane highway. Currently, for a little more than eight miles, drivers have to navigate small secondary roads to connect between the two highways-but that will soon be a thing of the past… Kinda.
Canadian transportation officials announced the extension of Autoroute 35 from the St. Sebastian where it currently ends, through to the United States Border.
The extension is also being touted as the final stretch needed to complete a 310 mile stretch of limited access highway, connecting Montreal with Boston.
This phase is the third and final phase of the project. Phase two opened to the public a couple of years ago, cutting about 15-20 minutes off the travel time for Vermonters visiting Quebec’s largest city.
Spending for the 8.3 mile stretch is expected to be greater than $80 million, according to the Canadian Government.
The project announcement comes as the Federal Government of Canada is getting ready to open one of the largest construction projects in Montreal in recent years- the new Champlain Bridge, which replaces a bridge of the same name which was opened in 1962.
The new suspension style structure will begin carrying traffic into the City by the end of June, with the outgoing lanes opening soon afterward.
Canadian Taxpayers footed the bill for the $4.5 billion bridge that was rushed through the building process, being constructed in just three and a half years. To put that into perspective- the cost of the bridge, even taking into account the Canadian Exchange rate, could fund all of Vermont’s State spending for about seven months.
