Green light for the 3rd link to the east and phase 1 of the Quebec tramway | All about the 3rd Quebec-Lévis link

The Legault government is committed to building a bridge east of Quebec and Lévis to avoid an economic “catastrophe” in the event of a closure of the Pierre-Laporte bridge. The Prime Minister and regional ministers also commit to launching work on the construction of phase 1 of a tramway in the capital.

For economic and strategic reasons, our government is committed to building a new highway link between Quebec and Lévisdeclared Prime Minister François Legault, thus renewing his 2018 electoral promise, which he had abandoned in the spring of 2023.

Despite the low gains in mobility identified in the report from the infrastructure subsidiary of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ Infra), the government believes that a third link is necessary to provide the region with an alternative solution. for the transport of goods.

Wednesday, CDPQ Infra explained that economic security issues were raised by many stakeholders, but that the issue went beyond its mandate. She left it up to the government to explore the issue further, while more than 10,000 trucks use the Pierre-Laporte bridge every day.

There will be no other economic or ridership studies, I think there have been enoughlaunches François Legault, concluding that closing the bridge represents too great an economic risk for the region, while trucks would be forced to make a detour through Trois-Rivières. No matter the decision, there are people who will complain. It’s not an easy file, but you have to have humility when it’s necessary to review a decisiondeclared François Legault to justify this new about-face in the third link issue.

We placed a lot of emphasis on the traffic that would be on this new highway link. Taking a step back, we realize that the issue of economic security is very important. This is why we are changing our decision.

According to the Minister of Transport, a short or long term closure of the Pierre-Laporte bridge would be catastrophic and hellish for the economy of our two regions.

Geneviève Guilbault cites the example of the Champlain, Île-aux-Tourtes and Île d’Orléans bridges, which have all experienced problems in recent years, to justify the need for a third link in Quebec.

We have no choice but to make the responsible decision, for once, finally, to plan in advance the redundancy of our inter-shore infrastructures.

Lower the deck of the Quebec Bridge?

The Legault government has also shown little openness regarding the solution proposed by federal MP Jean-Yves Duclos, namely to lower the deck of the Quebec bridge to allow the passage of trucks. This section of the bridge is the responsibility of the provincial government and the deck must be replaced over the next few years.

According to Jean-Yves Duclos, now that the federal government owns the infrastructure, lowering it when replacing it would be the simplest and least expensive solution to ensure the transport of goods in the event of problems on the Pierre Bridge. -The door.

No, I didn’t hear itreplied Minister Bernard Drainville, shrugging his shoulders when asked about this idea put forward by the federal government. What we are announcing to you today is a new motorway link which will allow us to transport trucks.

Duclos pulls that out of his hat. He could have talked about it before”,”text”:”I find it funny that Mr. Duclos pulled that out of his hat. He could have talked about it before”}}”>I find it funny that Mr. Duclos pulls that out of his hat. He could have talked about it beforeadded the Prime Minister. Duclos.”,”text”:”We are going to look at this new discovery by M.Duclos.”}}”>We are going to look at this new discovery by Mr. Duclos.

The Legault government has not put forward either a budget or a timetable for the construction of this new third link project.

The limit is really exceeded

The leader of the Parti Québécois (PQ) held a press briefing less than an hour after the Prime Minister’s speech to denounce a bad play.

Paul Saint-Pierre-Plamondon believes that the CAQ do politics using public funds that leads nowhere with this new change of direction on the third link. He points out that in April 2023, the Minister of Transport herself rejected the arguments of economic security by announcing the death of the third motorway link.

The head of P.Q. asks François Legault to have the decency to follow recommendations of CDPQ Below.

Is beyond me. […] There are limits. At some point, you have to respect people. There, the limit is really exceeded.

In the Taschereau constituency in Quebec, MP Étienne Grandmont recalls that the passage of trucks has been prohibited since 1992 on the Quebec bridge and that, until today, no one at the CAQ had been worried about the economic security of the region.

For me, this falls into the category of wacky arguments of bridges per million [d’habitants] , illustrates solidarity. Étienne Grandmont believes that the government is in the process of lose face in this file.

Constraints raised by CDPQ Infra

In its report released on Wednesday, CDPQ Infra argues that a third link at this location would only result in minimal gains for motorists who, on average, would save five minutes to go from one bank to the other.

On the North Shore, CDPQ Infra comes to the conclusion that the connection of a possible third link to the motorway network is incompatible with the project to transform the Dufferin-Montmorency highway into an urban boulevard.

The time saving for motorists is also limited because motorists, by taking a third link towards the north, would end up on a road network where congestion is already present.

The addition of an inter-river link to the east would have the effect of displacing the congestion observed at the head of the existing bridges, ultimately resulting in no mobility benefit on the road network.

For all these reasons, CDPQ Infra concludes that the construction of a third link is not justified in terms of gains for motorists in the region.