The project to build a bridge over the Saguenay Fjord is on everyone’s lips — or almost — on the North Shore, noted The duty as the start of the election campaign approaches.
The Nord-Côtiers are no longer satisfied with the crossing between Baie-Sainte-Catherine and Tadoussac, however pleasant it may be for tourists. They want their “first link” on land with Charlevoix. Including those who live more than 700 kilometers east of the wall of water.
Anne-Marie Tanguay spontaneously thinks of building a bridge between the Capitale-Nationale and Côte-Nord regions when asked about her expectations with regard to political parties between now and the election of 3 next October.
She lives in Baie-Johan-Beetz, a well-counted community of 86 souls located no less than an eight-hour drive east of Tadoussac, where ferries allow you to cross the Saguenay River and get back to the 138. don’t stay here all the time. We travel, too! We have relatives everywhere in Quebec”, she underlines under a sky crossed by elusive swallows.
“I remember once, at Easter, we waited two hours [le traversier]. There was a line… I think we got there, to have a bridge, ”she continues in the parking lot of the grocery store. For Anne-Marie Tanguay, a bridge “is freedom”.
The mayor of Baie-Comeau, Yves Montigny — who is seeking the votes under the banner of the Coalition avenir Québec —, put The duty the challenge of finding a single person opposed to the bridge project on the North Shore. “Here in Baie-Comeau, you won’t find any,” he says, sure of himself, behind a picnic table between the town hall and the Resolute Forest Products plant.
Mr. Montigny is part of a long line of eastern Quebec politicians promoting a road link near the mouth of the Saguenay. Charlevoix-Saguenay MNA Edgar Rochette was already campaigning some 90 years ago for the construction of a bridge.
“That’s why we’re here”
The duty in vain to have tried to start the conversation on several other subjects – Do we need additional places in CPE or in homes for the elderly? Do we need more family doctors? —, the Nord-Côtiers bring the discussion back to the “bridge”.
The Dubuc bridge, located in the Saguenean borough of Chicoutimi, a 90-minute drive away, is too far, according to them. “If there were less waiting for the ferry, that would already be wonderful,” says Andrée, who lends a hand to the maintenance team at a motel in Tadoussac frequented by a large number of observers of whales of all stripes.
Otherwise, everything is going like clockwork in the two North Shore ridings, René-Lévesque and Duplessis? “Yes, that’s why we’re here,” she replies tit for tat.
The bridge project is currently the subject of an advisability study aimed at determining its feasibility, its route, its cost and, of course, its repercussions on the flora and fauna of the Saguenay–St. which is frequented in particular by two endangered species: the St. Lawrence beluga and the blue whale.
Another study, socio-economic this time, aimed at better defining its impact on the ferry service and on the sixty people who make their living from it, as well as on the vitality of the surrounding communities, will follow. Both studies are expected next spring.
Coalition Union 138 spokesperson Guillaume Tremblay is urging policy makers to complete the road once and for all, with a bridge to the west and hundreds of kilometers of asphalt to the east. It puts forward first environmental considerations, then economic and security considerations. “The ferries make an average of 40,000 crossings each year. Then, we are in a strategic location for belugas, in the Saguenay Fjord. If we removed those ferries, we think that would help a lot,” he says in the conference room of an ordinary building in Baie-Comeau.
And there is the “crossing syndrome”. This strikes more than one motorist or trucker in the area, also argues Guillaume Tremblay. Already, in 2001, coroner Arnaud Samson drew attention to the tendency of motorists to step on the accelerator in order to arrive on time at the Baie-Sainte-Catherine and Tadoussac river stations. “The fact of having to take the ferry at fixed times, in order to continue a trip on Route 138, causes some drivers to experience a psycho-sociological change when approaching the river,” he wrote in a report.
“On the outskirts of Tadoussac and Baie-Sainte-Catherine, there isn’t a lot of overtaking space,” adds Guillaume Tremblay two decades later. “If you are in Grandes-Bergeronnes and you come to Tadoussac [à 22 kilomètres à l’ouest], then you see the procession of tanks arriving, it’s night and the ferry is on the hour, the first reflex you have, what is it? Because you don’t want to miss it. You weigh on the gas, then you try to do some heavy-haul overtaking. »
Studies, studies
Cathy Michaud had enough of it, repeated studies, especially since the CAQ, the Parti Québécois and the Liberal Party of Quebec say they are in favor of the bridge project. And that Québec solidaire is “open to studying the various solutions, including the bridge, to solve the problem of accessibility to the North Shore”.
“They have gone to I don’t know how many millions of studies for this bridge. They could have built three bridges,” she says behind the wheel of her bright red coupe parked on the ferry deck. Jos-Deschenes II. The boat, which can accommodate more than a hundred vehicles, sails briskly between Baie-Sainte-Catherine and Tadoussac.
“We’re talking about the bridge,” she says to her husband, who gets back to the car after stretching his legs. “Ah, tabarnak! pushes Gino Therrien, exasperated. “We’ve been wanting a bridge for 20 years. Cathy Michaud and Gino Therrien are asking the next government to take action.
Further on, trucker Luc Grenier, nicknamed “L’Écureuil”, says he relishes the moments of respite offered by the ferry, abandoned to the wind. “It cuts the trip in two,” says the regular on Route 138.
Guy Beauchemin, who recovers biomedical waste on the North Shore, finds it hard to understand the population’s tolerance of pollution generated by ferries and by motorists and truckers who leave their vehicle engines running for crosses it in order to stay warm or cold. “I don’t understand why there isn’t a bridge here yet,” he says, sitting comfortably in his heavy weight bearing the inscription “Le p’tit train va loin”. Once in Tadoussac, he heads east, crossing dozens of motorists, in the opposite direction, who are impatiently waiting for their turn to reach the other shore.
Could there be other studies on the feasibility of a bridge if the CAQ is re-elected? request The duty to the CAQ candidate in René-Lévesque, Yves Montigny. “I am not an expert. Me, I’m mayor and I’m a candidate,” he said, before recalling that the chief caquist, François Legault, indicated, during his visit to the region last June, that, “if the study is positive, yes, [il] undertakes to move forward”. “I have never seen a citizen here who is not in favor of the bridge project,” reiterates Mr. Montigny.
The duty yet found one in the coastal municipality of Godbout, 250 kilometers east of Tadoussac. The co-owner of the La Richardière B&B, Claude Gosselin, finds it hard to understand the apparent unanimity in favor of completing Route 138 with a bridge to the west — which, according to him, could cripple Tadoussac’s economy , because “people”flyeront“because they will be eager to get to Quebec” — and asphalt to the east.
Complete Route 138 to Labrador?
Moreover, the idea of connecting the communities of the Lower North Shore established between Kegaska and Vieux-Fort to the mainland does not make Claude Gosselin dream. “It’s throwing money out the window,” he insists from the entrance to his establishment, crowned with almost five stars on the online booking sites Booking and TripAdvisor.
Tourists will not flock en masse to the North Shore to drive to Labrador, while stopping here and there along Route 138, he warns. When the road was extended to Natashquan, “people were very disappointed, they thought they would find Vigneault there singing People of the country “, he says.
“We might need a link for emergencies, but other than that, we’re fine, quiet,” drops Claude Gosselin, like a bottle in the sea.