No cars, the third link will focus on public transit
The Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault.
Feuilleton 3rd link, umpteenth episode: there will be no highway tunnel between Quebec and Lévis. The 3rd link should be entirely dedicated to public transit, according to information from the Journal de Québec. The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Geneviève Guilbault, will make an announcement on the subject on Thursday afternoon.
At the end of March, the mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand, had argued that the 3rd link should be devoted to public transport if it were to see the light of day. Note that Geneviève Guilbault had planned to give an update on the 3rd link project “before summer”.
The most recent studies on the 3rd link, in particular that relating to the impact of the pandemic on road traffic on bridges, would thus have tipped in the balance.
The Diaryspecifies that the route remains to be defined. It will be the same for the mode of transport which will be retained: bus, tramway or other. Unlike the highway project, this one would be eligible for federal funding. The idea of the double tunnel which had recently been adopted, being thus less expensive than a mono-tube with two stages, could be reconsidered by the government.
Political reactions
On the side of Greenpeace, we are delighted with “excellent news”. “Congratulations to all the people who mobilized for this important victory,” tweeted the organization.
“I salute the leadership of the Minister of Transport who will make the 3rd link a public transit axis. It was the right decision to make in light of the experts' analyses,” reacted the mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante.
“We are very happy with this news and we congratulate the CAQ for having pulled back on the car shutter. This proposal is now very similar to that of the PQ in the campaign. We will therefore collaborate in its realization. Quebec deserves it!” reacted the leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.
“What a great civic victory! Common sense and science finally got the better of the CAQ's partisan stubbornness. We will study the government's public transit project,” commented the parliamentary leader of Québec Solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois.
