Third link in Quebec
The Quebec government announced on April 19 its decision to abandon the construction of a highway tunnel as a third link between Quebec City and Lévis. The infrastructure will be limited to public transportation only.
This project was proposed several years ago with the aims to increase access capacity to the south shore of the Quebec region. The initial goal was to reduce traffic congestion around the Quebec bridge and Pierre-Laporte bridge. But, opponents to the initial version of the project have argued that car travelling would worsen congestion. They believe that even more traffic will be generated by new development on the south shore.
With this decision, limiting the functionality of the tunnel will stimulate modal shift from automobile transport to public transport, but without the necessity to instore strong incentives for the usage of public transport. It is a known fact that people keep preference to use their cars in the long run. Road congestion still remains even with a new alternative.
To evaluate the value of time
Origin-destination surveys have shown that the tunnel’s location in the east of the region did not necessarily match travel habits. This was revealed in surveys conducted in 2017. A higher proportion of travels come from west Quebec city, south and north shore. Usage of public transportation in the east wil increase the distance and travel time .
To reach the break-even point, savings in the value of time for transit users need to be approximately $6.5 billion, witch is the cost of the project, assuming that those costs remained the same. Limiting the functionality of the project to public transit wil restrict the potential users. It would also reduce the social profitability of the project.
An imprecise scénario
After several years, several elections and several scenarios, it is a little surprising that the government has not not yet established the final version of the project: real costs, route, schedule and share of federal funding. That is to say that this project could ultimately be nothing more than a huge political balloon made up for election purpose ?
After all these years, studies are not convincing. They don’t conclude on its relevance. One of them, commissioned by the mayor of Lévis, indicates that if the project was designed for car travelling, it would relief congestion to the Pierre-Laporte and Quebec bridges. This would lead to savings on vehicle operating costs and fuel consumption and reduce road accident rates. It would also provide better access to educational and health institutions between the two shores. By further limiting the use of the tunnel to public transit, all these advantages would disappear.
Financial considerations more important than project relevance
What criteria has been used to restrict the link to public transport ? Is this a strictly financial decision? It is planed that Quebec and Ottawa will assume most of the costs. They might even cover the entire costs . Meanwhile, financing remains uncertain.
On the federal side, the 2022 budget announced that the government had a new plan. It intended to move up the deadline to March 31, 2025. This is for provinces to conclude agreements under the Investing in Canada infrastructure program. This program, with an envelope of some $33.5 billion, is primarily aimed at funding public transit. The Government of Canada has worked closely with the provinces. It will accelerate allocation of all remaining funds to priority projects. However, Quebec could be disqualified if it does not accelerate completion of the project.
Significant increase in interest rates due to the economic situation could also jeopardise financing of the project by the Quebec PQI for cars travelling. The federal government does not seem very keen on the idea of financing highway links for cars.
It is to believe that in such a context, needs and profitability studies have been forgotten.
Louis Bellemare
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