The city of Montreal had to deal with a traffic problem back in 1955, as you can see in those two short movies (sorry, they're in french only) from the National Film Board (NFB, in french ONF, for Office national du film).
Movie 1: https://www.onf.ca/film/circulation_a_montreal_1re_partie/ (https://www.onf.ca/film/circulation_a_montreal_1re_partie/)
Movie 2: https://www.onf.ca/film/circulation_a_montreal_2e_partie/ (https://www.onf.ca/film/circulation_a_montreal_2e_partie/)
In fact, this traffic problem is not solved yet in 2017! But mayor Jean Drapeau explains to the reporter his plan to eliminate the problem. We can see the first highway projects on the island; some are built since a while, but one of them is not completed yet.
Enjoy!