The citizens have spoken: the “worst road” in the province in 2024 is the 329 in Saint-Adolphe-d’Howard, in the Laurentians, which finds itself very high in the rankings for a second consecutive year. At CAA-Quebec, however, we recognize that this unscientific exercise, which is increasingly criticized, is called to change.
For a ninth year, the organization released its “ top 10 of the worst roads in the province. It is essentially a survey taking place online, over a period of three weeks, where road users are invited to identify the roads which are in their eyes the most dangerous.
This year, some 4,465 Quebecers expressed their opinion. And it was Route 329 in Saint-Adolphe-d’Howard, which comes under the Ministry of Transport, which won the prize. Last year, she finished second. The proliferation of potholes has been evident on this regional road for several years. Maintenance work also takes place there continuously.
In second place in the 2024 list, we find Chemin du Contour-du-Lac-à-Beauce, in La Tuque, in Mauricie, followed by Chemin Pink in Gatineau, in Outaouais. Follow Chemin Notch in Chelsea, Boulevard Albiny-Paquette in Mont-Laurier, Chemin des Mille-Isles in the municipality of the same name, Chemin Val-des-Lacs in Sainte-Sophie, Chemin Édouard-Roy in Sherbrooke, Klock Road in Gatineau and, finally, Route 321 in L’Ascension.
In short, it is the Laurentians which, with five mentions out of ten, take the prize for the region most affected by poor roads. Outaouais has three mentions, while Mauricie and Estrie have one.
Like last year, the Montreal region is excluded from the top 10, but several arteries were still mentioned as being in poor condition. We are talking about rue Notre-Dame, avenue Christophe-Colomb, rue Sherbrooke, boulevards de l’Acadie and Rosemont and even rue Jean-Talon.
In Quebec, Jean-Talon, de l’Ormière and Pierre-Bertrand boulevards, as well as rue Soumande and avenue Bourg-Royal, were also mentioned by Internet users.
Changes in sight?
Last month, the collaborator at The Press and former mayor of Gatineau, Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin, firmly opposed in our pages this “ top 10 of the worst roads” which, according to him, is “crazy” from a methodological point of view. The exercise sends a “toxic” message and encourages “the promotion of a prehistoric vision of what the priority of all road users should be,” he said.
CAA-Quebec replied that it had never presented the whole thing as a scientific analysis. Its director of public affairs, Nicolas Ryan, however, recalled that more than 75,000 votes have already been counted in eight years, which “made it possible to offer many mobilized people better road infrastructure”.
Contacted on this subject, a spokesperson for the organization, David Mercille, acknowledged Thursday that the campaign “has aged a little in nine years”, as mentalities on road safety have evolved. .
“We are currently discussing it internally, whether we change the angle of the campaign a little, and how we can improve it to make it more up to date. The goal is just to give citizens a voice, but we remain very open to criticism,” he explained.
“Ultimately, we give citizens a voice to put road infrastructure issues back on the agenda. That’s all. And we recognize that this remains a tiny part of the road network that will have been improved with this,” concluded Mr. Marcille.