Too expensive, too big, difficult to justify… The idea of a third link devoted solely to public transport arouses skepticism in the aftermath of the abandonment by the Legault government of the portion devoted to cars.
“It will never happen. We are not rich enough,” said Catherine Morency, professor at Polytechnique Montréal and holder of the Canada Research Chair in the Mobility of People. “If we had that much money, is this really the project we would want to do? Is this where there are the most mobility needs? […] It’s expensive to bring public transit to that place. »
In its last presentation, in 2022, the Legault government estimated that it would cost $6.5 billion to build the Quebec-Lévis tunnel. But everything suggests that the bill has increased substantially since then, due to inflation.
Mme Morency has been saying for years that building a highway tunnel is not a solution to automobile congestion. However, she also doubts the potential of the new option. A possible tunnel would take years to be accessible, she said. Action should be taken much earlier to improve the mobility of the population of the South Shore. “Why don’t we make express buses available quickly to meet the needs in this corridor instead of telling people that, in 15 years, they will have another mode of transport? It’s a bit absurd. »
An opinion that essentially shares Marie-Hélène Vandersmissen, specialist in the geography of transport at Laval University. “Just because it’s a public transit project doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good project,” she points out. Speaking of a “huge investment” and a “risky bet”, she sees a “risk of creating a large underused infrastructure that would kill public transport between the two shores. »
A “promising” project, according to Guilbault
Even Quebec solidaire was not ready on Wednesday to give clear support to this project. Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois repeated that he had “a favorable prejudice” towards public transport projects, but not at all costs. “It still has to be a good project, which meets people’s needs, which is supported by studies, which has a reasonable cost. We don’t have that information at the moment. »
The Liberals were also cautious. The interim leader of the PLQ, Marc Tanguay, stressed that the tunnels led to “an explosion of costs” and that he wanted to read the presentation of the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, Thursday, before taking a position.
The Parti québécois and the mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand, were the only ones to show some enthusiasm for the project.
During the election campaign, the PQ had proposed a tunnel project intended only for a light rail between the two cities. “Obviously we are delighted, but we have a specific request: to connect this public transport tunnel with the tramway network,” said the manager, Paul St-Pierre-Plamondon.
As for the mayor of Quebec, he sees in it “a logical choice which was essential”. “It also demonstrates a necessary leadership, added Bruno Marchand, in a time of uncertainty related to the climate crisis. »
Geneviève Guilbault is due to present the new version of the third link project dedicated solely to public transport on Thursday. According to our information, it will also make public the traffic studies that led to the abandonment of the automobile component of the project.
“We will move forward with a promising project for our two regions,” she said during the question period.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the government does not intend to quantify the costs of the revised project. It remains to be seen whether the emphasis on public transit will be able to facilitate the granting of funding by the federal government, which created in 2021 a permanent fund of 3 billion per year for the financing of public transit projects. For example, Ottawa financed 40% of the tramway project in Quebec City ($1.2 billion).
On Wednesday, federal Intergovernmental Affairs and Infrastructure Minister Dominic LeBlanc left the door open. “A press conference does not constitute the filing of a project of such an important scale. But I think it’s in line with a constructive conversation,” he told the Duty.
They had already declared
With Sebastien Tanguay and Marie Vastel