MONTREAL, Que. – Truckers who regularly journey the South Shore’s A10 on and off the Champlain Bridge will have the opportunity to watch the gradual reconstruction of the Taschereau Boulevard interchange over the next five years.

Through traffic on the A10 will not be seriously affected until 2004, but vehicles hopping on and off Taschereau are already struggling through nasty little detours that have already caused several accidents.

The Taschereau interchange was built in 1965 for 8,000 vehicles a day.

Today however, 100,000 vehicles use the A10 daily and 58,000 vehicles, including hundreds of buses, use Taschereau every day. In fact, the interchange barely functions during peak traffic periods.

The $86-million project will straighten the A10 where it passes over Taschereau, improve the exit and entrance lanes and build dedicated bus lanes that will keep them off the A10 for more of the stretch between Taschereau and the Champlain Bridge.

The awful bottlenecks caused when a lane on the bridge is reserved for buses every morning and evening will remain.

The construction project includes some infrastructure for a possible light rail transit line, but half the truckers on the road today will likely be retired before that concept ever becomes concrete and steel.

In September, federal Transport Minister David Collenette claimed that his government was looking seriously at completing the A30 ring road.

That would keep through traffic off the Island of Montreal, but he hemmed and hawed when asked directly if his government was prepared to make a commitment to complete the 30-year-old highway.

Until the ring road is completed, delays on the Champlain Bridge will worsen.

A report earlier this year warned that the tremendous beating the bridge is taking will lead to heavy damage and more delays if the bridge decks need major repairs.