Highway 30 construction causing problems for nearby family

Construction along Highway 30 is causing problems for a woman and her family in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield. They live next to the work site and want the government to buy their house so they can move.

The expanded highway runs along the south shore and will allow cars and trucks to bypass the island of Montreal

Guylaine Joannette lives within metres of the new portion of Highway 30 and said construction trucks arrive early in the morning. She said they make a lot of noise and produce a lot of dust, worsening her son's respiratory problems.

"My son is sick, he has asthma," she said. "And since the construction, it's been hell."

Once the construction is done, Joannette said she will have the traffic to contend with. She said she wants to move, but the value of her house has gone down, and she can't sell it.

She said she wants the Quebec government to take over the property.

'I'm going to raise my kids somewhere else, where my family is going to be happy' Guylaine Joannette

"Buy my house and I'm going to be gone," she said. "I'm going to raise my kids somewhere else, where my family is going to be happy."

The government has already expropriated 200 homes for the highway expansion, but Joanette's is not one of them because it is not directly in the highway's path. Joannette wants the government to reconsider, and expropriate her home as well.

"I'm not finished with this, that's for sure," she said.

Constuction is expected to be complete late in 2012.