While waiting to be determined on the fate of the third link, Quebec has had a plan prepared for the transformation of a portion of the Laurentian highway into an urban boulevard.
Officially, no government decision has yet been made regarding the possibility of redeveloping (or not) the Laurentian highway, at the entrance to the city.
Even if the minister responsible for the Capitale-Nationale Jonatan Julien recently committed, in the east, to transforming the Dufferin-Montmorency highway into an urban boulevard with a view to phase 4 of the Samuel-de Champlain promenade, the CAQ is not yet ready to do the same for the Laurentian highway.
Like several major projects in Quebec, including the tramway and the third link, this file also depends on what CDPQ Infra will recommend at the end of its analysis on mobility in Quebec, which must be completed by next June.
But no matter what CDPQ Infra says, “one way or another”, the government will eventually have to decide, if only because it is a central road axis, summarized a Source well aware of the file at our Parliamentary Office.
$9.2 million disbursed
As revealed The newspaper At the beginning of the year, since an analysis on mobility was commissioned from CDPQ Infra last November, the third link project office has practically been emptied of its employees.
It is different for the Union des Rives (UDR) consortium, to which the government entrusted a lucrative support contract worth $30 million two years ago. So far, $9.2 million has been paid to him.
While CDPQ Infra continues its analysis, UDR has among other things “completed a work plan allowing us to reflect on the transformation of a portion of the Laurentian highway into an urban boulevard,” confirmed the spokesperson for the Ministry of Transport, Nicolas Vigneault.
According to our information, this follows the commitment made by the CAQ during the last general election, namely to “work on the development of an urban boulevard on the Laurentian highway by calling on the project office of the third link”. However, this was before the Minister of Transport Geneviève Guilbault abandoned, for the exclusive benefit of public transport, the road component of the tunnel project to connect the city center of Lévis to that of Quebec, in the Hamel/Soumande sector.
Unknown timeline
According to documents obtained by our Parliamentary Office following an access to information request, a meeting on the transformation of the Laurentian highway took place on November 9 between representatives of the Ministry of Transport and the Quebec city. A meeting report – largely redacted – indicates in particular that the entire part of the Laurentian highway located between the Capital highway and rue de la Croix-Rouge could be reconstructed.
“No intervention is planned at the moment between the Félix-Leclerc highway (A40) and boulevard Lebourgneuf since the Félix-Leclerc/Laurentienne interchange was recently rebuilt,” we can read.
Extract from a meeting report concerning the transformation of the Laurentian highway, obtained by our Parliamentary Office following a request for access to information. SCREENSHOT
SCREENSHOT
The same document specifies the objectives of the project, namely: “to improve the flow of traffic during peak periods”, “to accommodate public transport” and “to correct safety deficiencies, particularly at the exit ramp towards rue Hubert”. , where the Walmart of the Fleur de Lys shopping center is located.
Although most of the document containing the timeline is redacted, it says “as quickly as possible”.
On this point, the MTQ spokesperson clarified to the Newspaper that “since the solution chosen for the Laurentian highway project could depend on the recommendations of CDPQ Infra, the Ministry cannot comment on the schedule and the next stages of the project.”
Another report from the same steering committee, dating from May 2019, indicates that the two bridges on the Laurentian highway which overlook the Saint-Charles River “will not need to be widened as part of the road improvement project. the Laurentian Highway.
There is also talk of the two CN railway bridges located in the Rue Soumande sector, including one dating from the 1960s (around which several road accidents have been observed due to lack of visibility) which must be rebuilt.
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