From the laurentides roads to the worst list … to improve the state

During the annual publication of the winner of the worst roads in Quebec last year, the residents of the Laurentians were not surprised to read there that 5 of the 10 worst roads were located in their region.

If they were not surprised, it was because they had mobilized to vote en masse for the roads of their region. This list made by the organization CAA-Québec is simply based on the public vote.

CAA-Québec’s spokesperson Simon Bourassa recognizes that the charts is not scientific, but adds that the resulting media pressure is accelerating things. He underlines that three of the five roads of the Laurentians have since been the subject of repair work, in particular the one which enthroned at the top of the charts: Route 329 between Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts and Saint-Adolphe-d’Huward.

But this is not the case with Route 321 which links the ascent to Rivière-Rouge, in the Hautes-Laurentides. Citizens have been waiting for the road for 13 years to be redone. In 2022, some therefore created the Citizen Committee of the Ascension for the repair of the 321.

We saw that the city could not have clear answers compared to the repair of the road. We are several citizens who are tanned to pay repair work all the time for their carsupports the chairman of the committee, Michel Laplante.

Punctured tire, smacked, the link kit (Stabilizing bar connecting rods) torn off: Denis Thibert, ascent mechanic, often notes damage caused by the state of Route 321 on cars.

The members of the Citizen Committee of the Ascension for the repair of the 321 worked hard to make their way to the list. It is not easy in a municipality of less than 1000 inhabitants, when you know that much larger citizens of cities are also mobilizing.

But what discourages them now is that since the publication of the ranking, nothing has moved. In addition, the repair of Route 321 does not even appear in Quebec infrastructure from 2025 to 2027, unveiled at the start of the summer.

Large ills the big remedies

Faced with the absence of a schedule, the members of the committee installed, at the beginning of the summer, two large panels at each end of the road on which motorists can read: Danger, 321 North, dangerous provincial route, complain at 511.

The letters, the emails, in the ministry and our deputy, it was not enough, sums up Michel Laplante: We even prepared a fairly bulky report for the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault. Merchants, delivery people, pharmacies, don’t like to come and see us on the ascent, because it can have an impact on their car, not to mention the children who are bardazing in the school bus.

The mayor of Ascension, Jacques Allard, is delighted with the initiative of the citizens of his municipality, even if it has yet given nothing. To accentuate the pressure on the Ministry of Transport, the mayor also plays the public security card.

The service time increases in ambulances. Our ambulance cover service is deficient, so it is other issues that are added with school transport and trucking.

Playing the public security card is also what the director general of the municipality of Wentworth-Nord, Ron Kelley, did to illustrate the impact of the state of the road time.

I made a video in a fire truck to show that when we are in an emergency, it affects our response times a lot. The speed [permise] is 80 km/h. We are not able to drive at more than 20 to 30 km/h.

In Wentworth-Nord, the 12 kilometers of the main road which belong to the municipality are very beautiful, while the 3.5 kilometers which belong to the Ministry of Transport are in very poor condition.

Last winter, the municipality therefore invited its citizens to mobilize to appear at the list of the worst roads in Quebec. Together, let’s make our voice heard for safer roads in Wentworth-Nord! We invite you to vote for the main road. Go to Piresroutes.com to support our cause and share this message. The more we are, the higher our impact will bethen wrote the municipality on its Facebook page.

What does the Ministry of Transport think?

By email, the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility says it is aware of the state of the road 321 on the ascent. He specifies that even if the repair of the road does not appear at the Quebec plan of infrastructure 2025-2027, this does not mean that work will not be done in the coming years.

The ministry specifies that two sections of Route 321 are in planning to do work in the close future. This is the section in the village nucleus, where the municipality also wishes to redo the rainfall which is under the road, and a portion of the road qualified as gélivewhich means that it degrades under the effect of frost.

The ministry’s team plans to be on site from September 8 for the portion of Route 321 before the village nucleus. These works, which will take place for about two weeks, will improve the comfort of rolling.

Regarding the main road, in Wentworth-Nord, the ministry writes that no project to repair the road is envisaged for the moment. The challenge being to invest in the right road, at the right time, with the right technique, thanks to optimal interventions planning, and to avoid the worst reflex firstcan we read in the answer.