Congestion in Quebec: behind the scenes of the MTQ traffic management center

Traffic obviously annoys many people in Quebec, but the situation could be much worse without the work in the shadows of the teams of the MTQ Integrated Traffic Management Center, a monster that has eyes everywhere, at all times.

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The people of what is commonly called the CIGC of the Ministry of Transport welcomed The Journal the time of a three-stage incursion into their control center. Morning rush hour, return home and start of the weekend: complete access which allows you to see the range of situations that the center’s telecommunications staff manage.

In fact, barely five minutes after our arrival the first morning, an incident caught the attention of Simon Giguère. Two vehicles are stopped on the shoulder.

By rewinding the images from the surveillance camera, Simon finds the accident. A classic, according to him: unsafe space between vehicles, late braking, impact. A ride that is repeated day after day on the network.

But the eagle eye of the attendant, who took barely a minute to notice that something was wrong in the image of one of the 200 cameras installed on the network of metropolitan Quebec, made it possible to quickly notify an MTQ patrol officer as well. as the Sûreté du Québec.

Various reasons

These CIGC interventions are numerous.

In the four centers of the province, namely Montreal, Quebec, Trois-Rivières and Gatineau, there is an average of 400 total computerized requests each day. A number that can rise to 1000 and sometimes even 1200 on storm days or special events.

“An event equals a request,” explains Antoine Gauvin-Lamontagne, head of operations. So whether it’s cattails that are too long under a culvert in Gaspésie or a collision involving several vehicles on the Pierre-Laporte bridge, the attendants note everything.

At all times, teams keep an eye on the cameras in front of them to detect an event that could impact traffic flow. During our visits, we were able to observe collisions, debris on the road, a trailer unhooking from a car, a pedestrian walking on the side of the highway, in short, the incidents are varied, but frequent. (See box)

At fault motorists

There is, however, a common denominator in the vast majority of these events that end up worsening congestion, and that is humans.

“People create congestion. […] They would succeed in creating congestion if we put them in a large circle, no [feux de circulation]», Illustrates Lydia Rochette, attendant, who says she constantly sees motorists jumping repeatedly from the accelerator to the brake.

And drivers in a hurry are also a problem. The CIGC experts are categorical, there is no point in zigzagging from one path to another, otherwise it will accentuate the problem.

“The more congestion you have, the more careless maneuvers you are going to have,” Simon Giguère regretfully observes, specifying that the situation is even worse at the end of the day. “People are not always in a hurry to go to work, but they are always in a hurry to come home.”

Fuel outages

And special mention to motorists who hit the road with a dry gas tank. If we say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, the maxim should also apply to filling up with gas.

“We find running out of fuel so ridiculous. It makes no sense,” exasperates Michel Joncas, also an attendant at the CIGC. In just a few hours, The Journal was able to observe at least three drivers who were caught.

The ministry’s spokesperson, Émilie Lord, confirms that the problem is a real concern for the MTQ. “The majority of breakdowns we have on the network are fuel outages. It’s a scourge.”

The Quebec Integrated Traffic Management Center in figures

• 6 regions covered: Capitale-Nationale, Chaudière-Appalaches, Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, Côte-Nord, Bas-Saint-Laurent/Gaspésie/Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Nord-du-Québec
• 383 cameras, including 202 for Quebec and Lévis only
• More than 130 terabytes of storage in the servers for one month of recording all images on the network
• 106 variable message signs, including 38 in metropolitan Quebec
• Around thirty employees divided into 5 teams who monitor the network 24 hours a day, 365 days a year

Lost loads of all kinds

During the few hours that The Journal spent at the CIGC watching the MTQ cameras, several incidents involving loss of cargo occurred and could have caused disasters.

One car notably lost its trailer in the middle of the highway: the trailer crossed two lanes, passing barely a meter from another motorist who miraculously escaped with only a good scare.

Then, at another point, a driver saw two large drywall panels fly from his trailer before falling onto the roadway between other vehicles trying to avoid the impact.

“And people very often don’t even stop,” laments Richard Pilote, attendant at the MTQ management center. “It’s a shame because in these cases, often the people who find themselves victims have nothing to do with the event.”

Tire season means problems

When we ask the employees of the Integrated Traffic Management Center what are the most frequent scenes to occur on the roads, loose wheels during tire changing season systematically come up. And the problem is more common than you might think.

“We always see some who are driving and who take the leap of being overtaken by a tire, no char. But they take the plunge even more when they realize that it is their tire that is gone,” says Michel Joncas, an attendant at the CIGC for several years.

And one might think that the culprits are mostly “one-day mechanics” who install their winter tires themselves, but the garages don’t leave their place, it seems. “We see it when it’s madness, when the garages are overflowing, they want to do it quickly,” explains Émilie Lord, spokesperson for the Ministry of Transport.

Late drivers who face the first cold days with poor shoes also have their role to play in autumn congestion. “The first snow is always the same. We see them straight away,” points out Michel Joncas.

The secret? Don’t take any risks and recheck the nuts after leaving the garage, advise the center’s attendants, and above all, don’t delay putting the car on properly for the winter.