Coroner Tremblay’s report supports PQ MP Pascal Bérubé and the 10,201 petitioners and recommends widening the section of Highway 20 between Rimouski and Mont-Joli.
Let us recall that the investigation was launched following the death of Arianne Dubé on this road last November.
“The police investigation report states that the configuration of Highway 20, at the location where this accident occurred, may have played a role in this unfortunate event. It should be remembered that this portion of Highway 20 has three lanes (one eastbound and two westbound) separated only by a double yellow line and a rumble strip. According to information obtained from the police, citizens in the region concerned have been calling for the widening of Highway 20 for several years to make it safer,” reads the coroner’s report.
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For years, and even more so since Arianne Dubé’s accident, several regional elected officials have been calling for the section to be widened to four lanes. Matane-Matapédia MP Pascal Bérubé had filed a petition to this effect in the National Assembly in February. More than 10,200 people had signed.
“This is a great victory for all those who fear for their safety on this section, which is more of a bypass than a motorway,” he said.
Supported by the coroner’s conclusion, he urges Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault “to plan the work quickly” and to include a central reservation to separate the lanes, as recommended in the report.
“This is an independent and important body that conducted an investigation and I am very pleased that the coroner agrees with my interventions. We remember that the Minister of Transport said that she would not move without such a report. Now, she has one and I expect that she or the minister responsible for the region (Maité Blanchette Vézina) will indicate that the government will move forward. It owes it to the people of Eastern Quebec,” concludes Pascal Bérubé.
Statistics and comparisons
Between 2004 and 2021, 1,144 collisions and 24 deaths were recorded on the section between Le Bic and Mont-Joli. Approximately 8,100 vehicles travel there every day throughout the year. During the summer, this average rises to 9,500. For comparison, Route 175 between Quebec City and Saguenay, which has four lanes, receives between 5,600 and 8,200 during the summer.
For its part, Highway 85, whose construction of four lanes of two carriageways in each direction is being completed, is used by 7,100 vehicles on a daily basis, a total that increases to 9,000 in the summer.
