Between Rimouski and Le Bic in Notre-Dame-des-Neiges, there are dozens of signs calling for the completion of Highway 20 at Route 132 this summer. Unprecedented, palpable citizen mobilization.
“If we want to listen, we have no choice. There, they no longer want to see us,” said Plantain Michaud, who lives on route 132 in Saint-Fabian.
Ms. Michaud recently funded the production of “We want 20” posters. In front of his residence, three hoardings have been erected demanding the completion of the highway.
“We’re not in a situation where we need this highway in 30 years, we needed it 30 years ago,” he said.
According to him, traffic on route 132 between Le Bic and Notre-Dame-des-Neiges is very problematic, and the government needs to speed up on this issue.
“We have people coming out of all places, coming in, turning left, bikes, tractors, school buses, Park to Big and nothing happens! “Investigations need to be stepped up and an ‘ambulance’ is needed at the government level to come here and solve the problem,” Ms Michaud explained.
On Thursday, citizens told TVA Nouvelles they had been waiting for the extension for four decades.
“This talk is not new, we have been talking for 40 years. 40 years ago, the traffic was less, we can understand, but now it makes no sense,” said Raynald Lavoie, spokesman for Le Bic of the “20 of us” group.
“Not for 20”
Sébastien Rioux, who lives at 132 in Notre-Dame-des-Neiges, has been campaigning for a “safer 132” instead of an extension for years.
This summer, he displays his position on a board installed in front of his house.
“We are currently on 132, 20 is here and traffic on 132 continues to increase, there are dangerous overtakings, people are behaving dangerously, so we can clearly see that the construction of 20 n” is not fully resolved. The problem,” he stressed, adding that many aspects of the 132 could be improved without much effort and investment.
A project in progress
We know that Quebec wants to move forward with the widening of Highway 20 between Notre-Dame-des-Neiges and Le Bic.
The design of the bridge, which spans the Trois-Pistols river, made solid progress in June with the first call for tenders on the most complex part of the stretch.
Two other tender calls related to the completion of Highway 20 are due to be issued by the Ministry of Transport soon.
“It’s too long. It has to be done in a short period of time. “We need 20 people,” says Raynald Lavoie, spokesman for the committee Le Bic, adding that things should change a little in the next two years.
Opponents of the project are instead asking that the BAPE, completed in 2002 over the Trois-Pistols River, be redone before moving forward with the new bridge.
“There are things we need to reconsider, the whole ecological sphere, the route, the noise, the people who are 150 meters from the bridge,” said Sébastien Rioux.
With these countless signs erected in front of private residences, two starkly different visions clashed on Route 132 this summer, but what both camps had in common; Desire for safe road connectivity.
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