After being inaccessible during the 2023 winter season, the Oka-Hudson Traverse may well suffer the same fate at the start of 2024. To date, the company that operates the ice bridge during the cold season is unable to confirm whether it will open in the coming months. 

If the Traverse does not open this winter, it will be the second time in a row that road users will not be able to use this icy shortcut. Last year, Claude Desjardins, who is responsible for the structure, pointed out that in a decade, there are three or four occasions when the Oka-Hudson Traverse is closed for the entire winter season due to temperature and weather conditions. 

"To date, there's no indication that we'll be able to open in the short term. The ice is not thick enough right now to allow us to do so. However, the weather may change, and conditions may be right for a quick opening. At present, however, the prognosis is not good. Nature has to take its course before we can do our job," says Claude Desjardins. 

To accommodate cars on the ice bridge linking the municipalities of Oka and Hudson, the ice must be at least 12 inches thick. " This year, if we open, traffic will be very heavy because of the current situation on the Île-aux-Tourtes bridge. For this reason, the ice thickness will have to be even more pronounced to support all the weight generated by the thousands of vehicles that will pass over it every day. Once the ice is ready, it doesn't take us long to mark out and clear the bridge. We could open two days later. "

However, for the ice to reach the desired thickness, Mother Nature has to cooperate by stringing together days where the mercury approaches -25 degrees Celsius. "The first two days at this temperature, the ice doesn't thicken quickly.On the following days, however, it's exponential," he says. 

If it opens this year, the fare for the Oka-Hudson Traverse could be revised upwards slightly." By mid-February, it would still be time to open the ice bridge.After that, in March, it becomes more complicated, as the days get longer and the sun is stronger. In the past, I've seen years when the Traverse was open until March 25. It always depends on the weather. By mid-February, we'd have two or three weeks of operation ahead of us. It would be worth it."

To keep up to date on the status of the Traverse Oka-Hudson, you can subscribe to the official Traverse Oka-Hudson Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/TraverseOkaHudson).