Hundreds of road sections vulnerable to climate change

A huge project awaits the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility (MTMD) to protect nearly 230 sections of road in Bas-Saint-Laurent, Gaspésie and Îles-de-la-Madeleine against coastal hazards. Given the scale of the task to be accomplished, the Ministry of Transport wants these dozens of interventions to all be approved in a single environmental assessment.

This approach, he argues, will allow it to accelerate decision-making during episodes of coastal erosion or submersion and to facilitate the prioritization of projects to prevent these disasters since the environmental assessment stage will already be accomplished for these sites.

Of the 228 targeted sites, the Ministry of Transport has prioritized 97 which will be subject to work more quickly.

But a single weather event could change his plans. We needed to do something that could take climate change into account, because what we plan to do first could be disrupted by a storm.explains ministry spokesperson Julie Marcoux.

With a decree that will allow us to act on sites in advance, we will be able to avoid emergency measures.

These vulnerable sectors were targeted by the ministry as part of its ten-year intervention program, which will ultimately become its main guide in protecting road infrastructure in the region for the next ten years. This is truly a vast study.confirms Ms. Marcoux.

A decision support tool was designed by the Laboratory of Dynamics and Integrated Management of Coastal Zones (LDGIZC) of the University of Quebec at Rimouski (UQAR) and was integrated into the environmental impact study submitted by the ministry.

By 2100, 139 kilometers of roads will be vulnerable to erosion, and 176 kilometers to flooding in the region, according to the ministry.

The portions of road targeted are mostly located on Route 132 and Highway 20 along the Bas-Saint-Laurent coast and the Gaspé Peninsula and on Route 199 in the Îles-de-la-Madeleine.

These are the sites for which it is estimated that there could be an intervention that would be necessary for the duration of the programexplains Ms. Marcoux.

Varied solutions

For a good part of these targeted kilometers of roads, the Ministry of Transport plans to raise the roadway or erect protective structures along the coastline, such as concrete walls, riprap sites or beach nourishments. It can also be a combination of these measuresadds the ministry spokesperson.

The recommended solution for each site will be determined at a subsequent stage of the project.

The MTMD does not exclude moving certain sections of road. Such an operation would, however, be subject to a specific environmental assessment procedure.

The ministry is at the stage of submitting the environmental impact study carried out for all 228 targeted sites. The Ministry of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks must now decide whether such a study is admissible or not.

If it is deemed admissible, public consultations will be organized. The Office of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE) could be mandated to conduct consultations.

A hailed preventive approach

In Saint-André-de-Kamouraska, west of Rivière-du-Loup, the river is part of the landscape.

However, a few kilometers of Route 132 which crosses the village are threatened with being submerged by water within a few decades.

This section is not one of the hundred that is prioritized for the next 10 years by the ministry, but it has been targeted among the approximately 230 sites to be monitored by 2100.

The mayor, Gervais Darisse, welcomes this preventive approach adopted by the Ministry of Transport. Even if it is unlikely that a disaster will occur in Saint-André-de-Kamouraska in the next decade, the authorities will be ready to intervene in the event of a bad storm.

It’s good to take inventory right away and then prepare, because [la hausse du niveau des eaux] will perhaps go faster than we expect.

All scenarios currently regarding sea level rise have been very conservative, but it’s happening faster than they expected.continues Gervais Darisse.

The mayor is also concerned about the reduction in ice cover over the years. The ice floe protects the banks from strong waves and high tides in winter.

Right in front of me, I see the St. Lawrence River. It’s still mid-January, and I would say that 20 years ago, we could cross by snowmobile, on foot, to go to the Pilgrim Islands. It was frozen, it was solid. Then, we know that it won’t freeze this winterhe adds.

Gervais Darisse recalls that fortunately, Saint-André-de-Kamouraska is partly protected by aboiteaux, a type of dike built in the area.