A 3rd link for an unlikely “catastrophic scenario” underscores an expert

Legault strongly doubts the “economic security” argument advanced by the government to justify the study of the third link, an expert believes it is an unlikely “catastrophe scenario”.

• Read more: Legault promised a tramway and a bridge for trucks, but no tunnel for a tramway between Quebec and Lévis.

• Read more: 3rd Highway Link: Here are 12 excerpts from the April 2023 press conference, Transport Minister Genevieve Guilbault

“The idea of ​​creating a third link in the event that the Pierre-Laporte bridge is closed for a few months or a few years seems to me a bit exaggerated, which seems like a catastrophic scenario,” commented Marie-Hélène Vandersmissen. Professor and Vice-Chancellor in the Faculty of Forestry, Geography and Geology at Université Laval (UL).

Negative effects

According to him, if the Ministry of Transport maintains the bridge well and repairs it, “it reduces the risks of not closing it for a long time. Two, seriously considering this scenario, it seems to me that all impacts, costs, direct and indirect, including environmental costs, social costs (urban sprawl, infrastructure, problem of public transport service, etc.) are included. All negative objective in short.

For Emiliano Scanu, assistant professor of social sciences in the UL Department of Sociology, government is often anti-science 3 of^e connection “There may be an issue of economic security, but to what extent and for whom? Will a new economic study shed more light on this? Perhaps, but it’s not designed in a pseudoscientific way like a recent survey of transportation problems in the Quebec region.

According to Fanny Tremblay-Racicot, associate professor of ENAP, “The third link creates the risk of creating real estate development, which increases congestion and travel times, thus canceling the positive effects of public transport projects.” “If the government accepts the argument of economic security, it is a bridge dedicated exclusively to the transport of goods that needs to be analyzed, which can be used by vehicles during the significant closure of the Pierre-Laporte bridge,” he adds. .

The tram was welcomed

Also, experts welcome CDPQ Infra’s decisions on tramway and wider city plan. Jean Mercier, Associate Professor Emeritus of the Department of Political Science, assesses that “the value and technical feasibility of the Geisse report are the first signs that we suggest that the tramway will soon have a legitimate place to implement.” UL is glad there is no anti-tram outcry.