What is truly staggering at the end of this week when so much has been said about the third link between Quebec and Lévis, is the number of questions that are unanswered on this flagship project of the CAQ. One wonders what serious work has been done on an issue that was a priority for this government.
At the press conference of the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, there was only one figure: between 9.5 and 10 billion dollars. This is the new cost estimate for the “twin-tube” version of the project. Without provisions for inflation or contingencies. For example, delays caused by fragile supply chains.
In the end, this is the one and only reason for the abandonment of the project: at this price, it had become politically indefensible. For comparison purposes, it would be twice as expensive as the Samuel De Champlain Bridge, the most used transportation infrastructure in Canada.
But the return to square one shows that we had no answers to questions that we thought were settled. The route, for example: would it always be from city center to city center? Some say we need to go further east, as the CAQ wanted in 2014? Or further west, because the real demand would be there? We do not know where the tunnel will come out of the ground in Quebec as in Lévis.
We do not have more details on the cost of a more modest tunnel. One thing is certain, however: a single tube will not cost 50% less than the twin tube. There are inherent construction costs that cannot be reduced. It’s like a building: whether it has two or five floors, it will always need foundations.
What means of transport will circulate in the tunnel? The future tramway of Quebec? Another type of train? Electric buses? That, too, remains to be determined.
Moreover, the experts in major works who have consulted the some 8,000 pages of studies finally made public by the government cannot believe the lack of rigor of all these studies. Almost nothing about the construction of the tunnel or its technical design. Clearly, we do not yet know what kind of tunnel we want to make.
Nor have studies been done on alternative solutions, such as those proposed by the former mayor of Quebec Régis Labeaume, namely redeveloping the bridgeheads with active management that would allow the safe use of certain routes in the opposite direction during peak hours. Whether it is so that they can be adopted permanently or, at least, for the 10 years of disruption due to the construction of the tunnel.
So much for the technical aspects. But the new version of the third link also raises political questions – one could even say cultural – which could derail the project.
At her press conference this week, the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, insisted that since the new project only includes public transit, new habits had to be established.
But the reflex of public transit will be difficult to get citizens to adopt, since the CAQ has been in power, they have only heard of waiting times at bridges, of congestion that we were going to reduce with a tunnel who was going to fix everything.
It is a real change of culture that Mr.me Guilbault, but such changes take time. Much of the time. However, “we must take this step,” said the minister.
But it should be noted that the attitude of the CAQ since it came to power has been much more about not losing support in the suburbs and among solo car owners than encouraging them to use public transport. collective.
In the case of the third link, the South Shore would also have to resolutely begin to take an interest in public transit. Just a few days ago, a group of citizens of Lévis, the Collectif Virage, denounced the delays of the City which put all its eggs in the basket of the third link. ” [Le maire Lehouillier] wants to have the big gift and is not inclined to ask for the rest”, they said.
In short, on the South Shore, people seem to believe much more in building construction and urban sprawl than in sustainable development.
Faced with so many unanswered questions and obstacles to overcome, it is not surprising that many people no longer believe in it and have now concluded that the third link will never come true.
Obviously, the government did not do its homework and left the project at the stage of an election promise. There will undoubtedly be a political cost to pay, especially on the South Shore of Quebec. But even that really doesn’t seem to be keeping the government awake.