Environmental groups and public transit promotion groups are delighted with the abandonment of the project for a third Quebec-Lévis highway link.
“This is clearly excellent news. On the government side, this decision may have been difficult to make, but we think it’s a responsible and courageous decision,” says Angèle Pineau-Lemieux, coordinator of Accès transports viables, an organization that defends the right to public and active transportation in the Quebec region.
The abandonment of the highway “twin-tube” project, which should instead make way for a project dedicated exclusively to public transport, was welcomed on Tuesday by the coalition No to the Third Link, of which Accès transport viables is a member, but also the Regional Council of the environment — Capitale-Nationale region, Équiterre, the David Suzuki Foundation, Trajectoire Québec and Vivre en Ville.
In a press release, the coalition argues that the reversal of the CAQ government is “a great victory for the mobilization of the population, organizations, experts and all members of civil society who have argued over the years for the disastrous impacts that this project would have had.
“We are definitely dropping the old highway dream of the 1960s that was lying around in the boxes of the Ministry of Transport,” rejoices Marc-André Viau, director of government relations at Équiterre, in an interview.
For now, not much is known about the new version of the third link project. “We’ll have to wait for the details,” said M.me Pineau Lemieux. In the meantime, we can emphasize that it is a good signal to see that the government understands the importance of structuring cities around public transit, which is the complete opposite of what we have been doing until now. in this file. »
“It’s an interesting idea, says Mr. Viau, but we must not neglect to do all the necessary planning, in terms of land use planning and housing, for example. Is there a population density—or a population density forecast—sufficient for such a project? It’s to do. If this proof is not made, the money could obviously be used for other public transit projects that better meet the real needs of the population.
Remember that not only environmental groups were opposed to the third motorway link, but also most experts on energy, climate and transport issues. Last month, The duty had spoken to five of these specialists, who all considered that the project was incompatible with the recommendations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).