The poor state of the roads does not endanger the safety of citizens, ” said André Fortin

File Photo, Simon Clark
The minister of Transport, André Fortin

Charles Lecavalier

Thursday, march 29, 2018 12:51

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Thursday, 29 march 2018 13:51

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The poor state of our roads, bridges and overpasses do not endanger the safety of motorists and does that affect the ride comfort, ” said the minister of Transport André Fortin.

• READ ALSO: Transport: the infrastructure in bad shape in Quebec

“Québec’s infrastructure are secure [sic]. Here we are talking about ride comfort. It can be improved,” admitted Mr. Fortin, on Thursday, during a media scrum at the entrance to the liberal caucus.

The Newspaper reported Thursday that the health infrastructure of transport nosed in Quebec, and that the amount to invest for that they are in a state judged at least satisfactory has jumped to $ 14.7 billion $.

Indeed, despite significant investments, half of the 30 900 km of roads is still in a bad or very bad state so that the degradation of bridges, viaducts, interchanges, is in freefall. In value, more than half of these works are considered to be in bad or very bad state.

Mr. Fortin is, however, reassuring : this is not to say that they are dangerous. “There is a need to improve road maintenance in Quebec, but the roads are not the worst this morning than they were yesterday,” he said.

Mr. Fortin has added that it has increased road investment from 4.6 to $ 4.8 billion. Last year, despite the public investment, the total liability of the government for roads has reached 14.7 G$, compared with 12.8 G$ last year.

Despite these data being produced by the MTQ, the minister Dominique Vien believes that the state of the roads is quite satsifant. “You come and see in my area, I find that one takes good care in our roads. It is a lot of money that we invested”, she started.

For Benedict Cart of the CAQ, it is necessary to provides for the cost of infrastructure maintenance in the budget and increase the quality of the work.

“It is still necessary to recognize that the governments which have succeeded one another have not taken the full measure of this issue over the years. It explains why despite all the money that is put, it’s hard to return to a certain balance,” he explained in an interview.

He claims, moreover, that the tenders of the MTQ to make more room for the concrete industry, which has a longer life than asphalt. “If we can find a market [in the concrete of the cement plant in Port-Daniel] it would be a lesser evil”, he launched into a joke.

Mp pq’s Martin Ouellet said of his side that maintain the roads, “it is a choice of society” and that the PQ would invest more in the maintenance of the infrastructure. He added that he would await the filing of the financial framework audited by the Auditor general to indicate where the PQ would cut to increase this funding.

The member of parliament for Québec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois argues for its part that it is necessary to put a brake to any new road project and repair what is already there. “The place of promise of third links, or extensions of highway, it is necessary to take this money and take care of present roads. Instead of the promise of the ends of roads to win elections, it is necessary to plug the holes in the roads that already exist,” he said.