Torn by tunnel construction

Due to the hellish task at the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine Bridge-Tunnel, a separated couple is forced to make heartbreaking choices when reviewing childcare schedules.

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“When you’re a family and your child lives on the South Bank, I’m sorry, but it’s heartbreaking. It hurts, it hurts. We can’t see our children anymore, we lose hours with them,” says Mary-Eve Robertson in a tight throat. , lives in Terrebonne and has joint custody of her daughter Nomi, age 9, with her father in Longueville.

For others, the bridge-tunnel work creates a real headache for separated parents who live on one side of the St. Lawrence or the other and share custody of their child.

“Before, my daughter was there every week. But there, with jobs and traffic, it is not possible to bring him to school every morning,” laments Ms Robertson.

Since one of the subway tubes was closed on October 31, the travel time between her home and her ex-husband has almost doubled, from about an hour to more than two hours.

“We don’t get up at 4:30 in the morning, so it’s time for school!” It would be ridiculous,” the cleaning lady gives up.

Beauty goes a long way

Tommy Morin, a resident of the Pointe-aux-Trembles sector in Montreal, who usually babysits his son every week, faces the same dilemma.

“I can no longer take him to school every morning because it takes more than three hours,” laments the 39-year-old father.

Her son attends high school in Sainte-Julie, on Montreal’s south shore, where he lives with his mother the rest of the time.

Before work, Mr. Morin took about 30 minutes to bring her 15-year-old son to school and 25 minutes to get home. Today, travel time has actually tripled.

“I realized that it would take less time to go to Pius to see my father than to take my son,” he laughs.

Change of program

Conclusion: Ms. Robertson and Mr. Morin reluctantly resigned himself to reconsidering the call schedule.

Instead of seeing their child every two weeks, they keep him home only on weekends.

“But even on Friday, it takes me 3 hours 15 to get there and back, same on Sunday when I bring him to his mother. More than six hours, I couldn’t spend quality time with it,” laments the Montreal port worker.

Three years

For both parents, it is difficult to see how the situation can be resolved, since the work must extend for at least three years.

Some try to manage as best they can.

“Because he’s tall, he can use public transportation sooner, at least to help us reduce the travel time to Montreal. Here again, transportation tickets from Sainte-Julie to Longueuil and from Longueuil to Montreal are very expensive,” laments Mr. Morin. .

For her part, Ms. Robertson is considering rearranging her work schedule to avoid traffic and major traffic jams.

“It’s going to be a lot of adaptation, but it’s really sad that there’s no other solution,” he says.