Federal Minister Joël Lightbound argues that it would be “desirable” that the deck of the Pont de Québec is lowered to allow the passage of public transport structuring on the structure.
• Read also: The State of the Quebec Pont is “acceptable”
“It is sure that at one point or another, it would be desirable to have a form of public transport structuring between the two banks,” said the new Minister of Government Transformation and Federal MP for Louis-Hébert Joël Lightbound on the sidelines of an announcement on the Quebec bridge on Wednesday.
He says he wants to leave it to the Government of Quebec, which is responsible for the deck of the Quebec Pont, to decide the question of the lowering or not of the way which allows cars to circulate on deck. The Quebec Ministry of Transport has maintained in recent years that the lowering will not be done because it is too complex.
It is “too early” to decide, says Lightbound. “It would be desirable, but I want to let MTQ do its job without interfering.”
Plan cited
The plan quoted from the Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec Infra also provides for the passage of two fast bus lines (SRB) which would circulate on the Quebec bridge to feed the sectors of the Route des Rivières and that of Desjardins via the Guillaume-Couture boulevard.
As of 2016, while the SRB Quebec-Lévis was in the boxes, the studies demonstrated that the apron had the capacity to support this transport, but ruled that a lowering of the structure was necessary in order to generate enough height space to do this.
Bearing capacity
On Wednesday, the Federal MP for Quebec, Jean-Yves Duclos, also reiterated that the centenary bridge could temporarily accommodate heavy vehicles in an emergency, by redeveloping the tracks. He thus contradicts the argument of the CAQ, which, to justify a third link, calls for “economic security” and hammers that the Pierre-Laporte bridge is the only one who can ensure the transport of goods between the two banks.
“This road deck served for 40 years as heavy vehicles, between 1952 and 1993. […] If the government of Quebec wishes by prevention of this economic security issue to pass two heavy vehicles from time to time, it is possible to do so. The bearing capacity of the Quebec Pont is sufficient to pass heavy vehicles, ”argued Mr. Duclos.
Moctar Sidibé, of the company Les Ponts Jacques Cartier and Champlain Inc. (PJCCI), Maude Mercier Larouche, member of the executive of Quebec City, Steeve Lavoie, Federal MP for Beauport-Limilou, Joël Lightbound, Federal Minister for the Transformation of the Government, Sandra Martel, first leader of PJCCI, Advisory, Frédérik Boisvert, CEO of the Quebec Chamber of Commerce, Alain Kirouac, member of the Advisory Committee, Luc-Alexandre Chayer, Housing Canada, and Jean-Yves Duclos, Federal MP for Quebec, posed on the sidelines of the announcement of an Advisory Committee for the Quebec Pont on the Samuel-de Champlain Promenade.
Photo Stéphanie Martin
Advisory committee
In addition, the company Les Ponts Jacques Cartier and Champlain Inc. announced on Wednesday the creation of an advisory committee made up of several entities, including cities, the Ministry of Transport, Chambers of Commerce and Citizens. Trained with volunteers, he will have the mandate to make him proposals as part of the planning of the rehabilitation of the bridge.
Could this committee come to recommend the lowering of the deck? For Frédérik Boisvert, CEO of the Quebec Chamber of Commerce: “[L]He expectations is that the two parties agree to maximize our existing roads. Subsequently, we hear about the Quebec government of a third link. Let them come back to us: not as they do now, dropper. We want a global vision, with a price, a route. ”
