The government presented the “first preparatory work for the third link” between Quebec and Lévis on Monday morning – work planned since at least 2019 and which will be carried out 2 km west of the place chosen to dig the road tunnel.
In all, $80 million will go towards widening Autoroute 20 between the Pierre-Laporte bridge and the Route du Président-Kennedy, a section of about twelve kilometers that will go from two to three lanes in both directions. by 2024. High masts will also be stuck in the middle of the embankment by the end of the summer – as much work “necessary for the establishment of the Quebec-Lévis tunnel”, maintains the Ministry of Transport of Quebec (MTQ).
This project had been “in planning” in the ministry’s boxes since March 2019. The MTQ ensures that the arrival of the tunnel boring machine, scheduled for 2027, has upset the schedule.
“We went into overdrive […] to be under construction as quickly as possible,” says Odile Béland, general manager of the MTQ in Chaudière-Appalaches. She points out that the widening of the Jean-Lesage highway and the tunnel could have been carried out at the same time, but that “that would create too many obstacles. »
First shovelful
The government has repeatedly promised that a “first sod” in anticipation of the third link will be lifted before the October 3 election deadline. The Minister of Transport, François Bonnardel, had indicated that his ministry would not be satisfied with “cutting the grass”.
“Between four and five million” dollars will also go towards improving the exit that leads to downtown Lévis and which is located 2 km from the sector approached to dig the third link.
“To change an exchanger to the extent of what will be required for the third link, it’s not far,” underlines Ms. Béland.
According to the MTQ website, the redevelopment of exit 325 which leads to Route du Président-Kennedy had been in the planning stages since 2020.
“Traffic flows will change” with a new intershore link, assures Bryan Gélinas, spokesperson for the MTQ. The works presented on Monday become “necessary” to ensure the fluidity of the traffic that will be induced by the tunnel.Have
Minister Bonnardel was absent during the announcement made in Saint-Georges on Monday morning, during which local MPs presented $434 million over two years devoted to infrastructure in Chaudière-Appalaches. The announcement of $1 billion in government investments in other infrastructure projects elsewhere in Quebec kept him in Montreal.
Adjusted version in “a few weeks”
The government is currently working on the “adjusted” version of the third link. In May 2021, Prime Minister François Legault had presented with great fanfare a tunnel of pharaonic dimensions – and an imposing cost varying between 7 and 10 billion dollars.
Last month at the Blue Room, he mentioned for the first time a less ambitious project with less than the six traffic lanes initially planned.
The new version of the tunnel between Quebec and Lévis must be presented “over the next few weeks”. Minister Bonnardel’s office refers to an announcement “before the end of April”.