(Quebec) Due to a drop in traffic on the bridges between Quebec and Lévis, but also for a question of costs, the Legault government is giving up on its promise of a third highway link. He now advocates a tunnel reserved for public transport between the two shores.
The news first reported by Le Journal de Québec was confirmed by La Presse on Tuesday afternoon. Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault will make the announcement on Thursday.
The studies that will then be unveiled on the project are clear: with the pandemic and the rise of telework, traffic has decreased during rush hours and travel habits have changed. In this context, it is simply no longer justified to add a motorway “third link”, it is explained in substance.
The government finds itself abandoning its promise that it defended tooth and nail in the election campaign. Bernard Drainville even said that “the wait has become hellish” on both bridges. The Legault government also justified its third link by saying that these two infrastructures are aging.
Prime Minister François Legault maintained that his project would result in a “maximum” expenditure of $6.5 billion, but there were many doubts with the rising cost of infrastructure projects. In Quebec, we agree that the advance bill contributed to the abandonment of the highway tunnel.
The CAQ project now aims to build a single tube under the river reserved for public transit, from downtown to downtown. We do not know the mode chosen (bus, tram or metro) and the cost. Such a project is more likely to obtain funding from the federal government, an important factor in this case.
