The City of Quebec will soon undertake major work on Airport Road. On this occasion, the Marchand administration does not rule out the possibility of providing aviation enthusiasts with a real plane observation site.
This is what we learn from reading two separate responses from the City’s STMI (Smart Mobility Transport Service) communicated in recent weeks to the airport neighborhood council.
The STMI says it wants to redevelop the approximately 3.7km section of the Airport Road located between Wilfrid-Hamel Boulevard and Notre-Dame Avenue (on the Val-Bélair border). A memorandum of understanding has already been developed between various partners: the Ministry of Transport, the agglomeration of Quebec, the cities of Quebec and L’Ancienne-Lorette as well as the airport authorities.
Sidewalks and cycle paths
“The reflection aims to develop a development concept to improve the fluidity and safety of the Airport road and provide sidewalks and a cycle lane. The project will require the removal of ditches and the relocation of existing posts. It could also require acquisitions,” explains the STMI.
According to a preliminary schedule, the memorandum of understanding must be approved by the Quebec City Council in the first weeks of 2025. “A call for tenders aimed at retaining the professional services of a consultant will be made in the spring of 2025. The mandate should be completed during the winter of 2026. Working meetings with the population and neighborhood councils will be organized as part of the consultant’s mandate,” we read.
It is added that “the work will subsequently be planned and carried out in phases depending on the implementation constraints and the budgetary availability of the partners”.
As the call for tenders process will soon be launched, the City did not want to reveal the budget envelope for this project.
Upcoming development work on Airport Road (between Wilfrid-Hamel Boulevard and Notre-Dame Avenue), to the north, in Quebec, on Monday, November 18, 2024.
Photo Stevens LeBlanc
Airplane observation
Initially, the neighborhood council’s questions focused on a completely different subject. The members of this advisory body requested a meeting with municipal authorities to discuss one of their resolutions which aimed to “create a designated and safe place for observing planes.”
It was argued that the current informal observation site (located along the Airport road, east of the main runway) “is not developed” adequately. The neighborhood council pointed out that as “the Airport road is a very busy artery, the place [actuel d’observation] does not benefit from minimal supervision for access to the site as well as for parking in a structured and safe manner for users of all ages.
Without making a firm commitment, the STMI responded that the consultant who will be retained as part of the Airport road project “will have the mandate to include in its proposal an observation zone for landing and take-off of planes.
In Quebec, the community of spotters (those who like to observe, catalog and take photos of planes) is brought together under the site www.yqbaviation.net, where you can find a map of the six best plane observation posts in Quebec. Equipped with an ethical code and strict safety instructions, the spotters remind their members that “the practice of planespotting is known and tolerated by the management of the Jean-Lesage International Airport of Quebec and Airport Security.
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