There will no longer be one, but two tunnels in the new version of the third link that the government is to present on Thursday. The project, on a smaller scale, would reduce the bill, initially estimated between 7 and 10 billion dollars.
The first draft of the third link promised a unique tunnel 8.3 km long and 19.4 m wide, a diameter never before achieved on the planet. To dig it, Quebec would have had to invent a tunnel boring machine. Its six lanes, spread over two floors, made the third link the largest in the world.
The government is now scaling back its ambitions. There will now be two smaller tunnels and these will have fewer lanes, as Prime Minister François Legault first mentioned in February. “In total, do we need two, four, six lanes? This is what we are looking at, “said the head of government at the time.
According to our information, the new version will not change anything to the original layout. The Ministry of Transport (MTQ) announced last month “preparatory work” in Lévis to prepare the road network for the flow of traffic generated by the arrival of the third link. The tunnel boring machine should start digging in 2027, according to the MTQ schedule.
The details presented Thursday
The CAQ has repeatedly requested that Ottawa absorb 40% of the costs of the third link. However, the federal government has always repeated that it does not fund highway projects. Rather, public transit is benefiting from Ottawa’s manna.
The Ministry of Transport did not want to comment on the possibility of one of the two tunnels being entirely devoted to public transport in order to force the federal government to fund it.
The tunnel between Québec and Lévis must connect the two city centers and is part of the Réseau express de la Capitale (REC), a vast mobility plan for the greater region of the national capital.
In addition to the third link, the REC includes the widening of several highways to create dedicated transit lanes. The tramway defended by Quebec becomes, in the government’s vision, an integral part of its express network.
The mayors of Quebec and Lévis got a preview of the second version of the third link on Tuesday morning. Bruno Marchand never endorsed the project, asking first to be convinced that it will bring benefits to the people of Quebec. His Lévis counterpart, Gilles Lehouillier, has always supported the sub-river link, believing that the Quebec and Pierre-Laporte bridges had reached their full capacity.
The public will learn about the details of the new version on Thursday during a presentation by the Minister of Transport, François Bonnardel.
A “pharaonic” project
The colossal nature of the project proposed on May 17, 2021 drew a number of criticisms from the CAQ. Some saw a tunnel that was too big and expensive for the congestion in the Quebec region. The leader of the official opposition, Dominique Anglade, has often mocked him by calling the third initial link “pharaonic”.
Many also mocked certain government claims that the third link is carbon neutral and “a great way” to curb urban sprawl. So far, no studies have backed up these claims.
Environment Minister Benoit Charette has already indicated that the tunnel will go ahead regardless of the outcome of the environmental assessments. “Our role is that it is done in compliance with the Environmental Quality Act and with the least possible impact on the environment,” he said on November 3.
The third link between Quebec and Lévis was a flagship promise of the CAQ during the previous election campaign. Minister Eric Caire, MP for La Peltrie, had even put his seat on the line by swearing that a first shovelful of soil would be made before the next general election, scheduled for October 3.
The idea of a tunnel, however, never succeeded in winning over Quebec City Hall. Former mayor Régis Labeaume had left the podium at the end of the speeches when the Prime Minister, his Minister of Transport and the Minister responsible for the Capitale-Nationale, Geneviève Guilbault, presented the REC with great fanfare, in the spring of 2021.
At the end of his political career, Mr. Labeaume had, in a long message addressed to François Legault, questioned the relevance of the tunnel defended by the CAQ.