The third link is not the only solution to improve fluidity between Quebec and Lévis, recall Mayor Bruno Marchand, Quebec solidaire and the Parti Québécois, in the light of a study which shows that a reversible 7th lane would be “viable » on the Pierre-Laporte bridge.
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As noted by Radio-Canada, we find, in the documents published in the wake of the abandonment of the 3rd road, last Thursday, a study dated January 5, 2021 relating to various “solutions for optimizing existing links” between two shores.
Among the solutions studied, is the addition of a slide on the Pierre-Laporte bridge, deemed “viable at the structural level”, by the experts of the Inter-Rive Mobility Group.
This is an option that the Legault government has repeatedly rejected. A few days before the start of the election campaign, the Ministère des Transports had confirmed that the concept of a reversible lane was being analyzed as part of the opportunity study for the tunnel project between Québec and Lévis, but its conclusions were not expected. before 2023. However, Quebec did have an analysis of more than 200 pages on this subject, since January 2021.
“The modification of the geometry of the approaches and the assignment of the lanes to the approaches of the Pierre-Laporte bridge, by the use of removable barriers, will contribute to improving the fluidity in the direction of the point”, wrote the experts.
For a fraction of the price
“The CAQ said that it just didn’t make sense and then that it couldn’t be done,” recalled solidarity deputy Etienne Grandmont, who wants different initiatives to be considered.
Especially since several of the solutions to improve fluidity would cost “a fraction of the price”, compared to the $ 10 billion that the “bitube” of the Legault government was supposed to cost.
According to studies released last Thursday, it would cost “about $60 million” to put a slide in place on the Pierre-Laporte bridge, noted the MP for Taschereau.
“The same study says that we could have an improved ferry system […] for less than 300 million dollars”, also noted Mr. Grandmont.
“There are options. The CAQ has always refused to consider them, has always been, in a very dogmatic way, on a tunnel, and, moreover, their proposal is still just a tunnel, ”regrets the elected representative.
PQ MP Joël Arseneau pointed out that the idea of a slide had been proposed, among others, by former mayor Régis Labeaume, in the past.
“We made fun of him for a while. Today, we still agree with him,” said the member for Îles-de-la-Madeleine. “Finally, we see the light at the end of the bridge and the tunnel,” quipped the elected PQ.
Explore all solutions
From Paris where he continues his mission until Saturday, the mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand, also believes that the option of dynamic lanes on the bridge must be evaluated. Not only that, but he believes that we must explore all the solutions that would improve the fluidity of transportation between the two shores.
“There is no one solution, third link or not. It’s independent. We must multiply all the possibilities we have to make traffic more fluid.”
Among other things, he cites a functional track for active transportation on the Quebec Bridge, river shuttles, regular ferries. “I want the Ministry of Transport to be hyper-proactive in considering all the solutions, and not just one.”
According to him, all this must be done in parallel with studies on the third link. He reiterates that the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, showed “courage” by announcing the abandonment of the motorway portion of the third link.