Half of the roads under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Transport are in poor condition, denounces auditor Guylaine Leclerc in her report where we learn that it is in Abitibi-Témiscamingue where we find the worst situation.
In 2022, no less than 65.1% of Abitibi-Témiscamingue roads were in poor condition. And the proportion of damaged roads also exceeds 50% in six other regions: Chaudière-Appalaches, Outaouais, Estrie, Bas-Saint-Laurent, Laurentides-Lanaudière and Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine.
Conversely, only a third of the network needs to be monitored in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, on the North Shore and in the Quebec region.
In her report presented Thursday, the Auditor General criticizes the Ministry of Transport for delaying getting its network up and running. Thus, between 2018 and 2022, the proportion of degraded roads increased by 8.9% to reach more than 8,000 kilometers in total.
“At the rate where the [ministère] is currently carrying out its reconstruction and major rehabilitation work, the restoration of its roadways will take more than 25 years,” she writes.
The auditor’s analysis also shows that the problem is not new since the proportion of roads in poor condition has hovered around 50% since at least 2018.
Energy diverted to emergency works, new roads and temporary measures
How to explain such results? The auditor points out the insufficiency of financial resources and the lack of internal human resources and suppliers. She also mentions that emergency work caused by climate change can cause postponements.
A good part of the available budgets is also taken up by the construction of new roads, also points out Guylaine Leclerc.
She also criticizes the planning methods of the ministry and some of its regional directorates. She is surprised, for example, that temporary safety work is being done on segments of the road without planning any major intervention in the same place in the years that follow.
Further details will follow.