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As I start my trip just before 7 a.m., Highway 20 eastbound is bogged down in Lachine, the traffic backed up at least three kilometres.

But I’m west-bound, heading to a West Island starting line for an unusual assignment: to get stuck in soul-sapping traffic.

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Starting at Gouin and St-Jean Blvds. in Pierrefonds-Roxboro, I am to drive to Peel and Ste-Catherine Sts. I’m a transitcommuter who has grown to hate driving the minivan I own, so I’m about to learn how the other half commutes.

From what I hear,I’ll have plenty of time to mull over Montreal’s traffic annus horribilis, caused by the historic amount of roadwork, the mega Turcot and new Champlain Bridge projects and the growing off-island suburbs. It’s a perfect storm that has led to painful commutes. Drivers from north, south, east and west of downtown have been telling me it takes them 30 minutes longer to get to work than it did a year ago.

Given their frustration, the Montreal Gazette decided it was time to document their pain. We asked five drivers to share their typical morning experience, which you can read in an accompanying story. And we decided I should experience the pain first-hand. So, in position at 7:33 a.m., I launch an app that will track my speed along my 30-kilometre route.I’m ready for the worst.