Jacques Boissinot The Canadian Press “The Minister of Transport is keen on the highway, she wants to keep it there. Is it to evacuate the tens of thousands of cars that will be added there by a possible third link? If this is the case, it is really serious”, launched the united deputy Sol Zanetti.
The repetition of collisions at an exit from the Dufferin-Montmorency highway in Quebec City indirectly revives the debate on the third link. Québec solidaire attributes the government's refusal to close this intersection in part to its desire to prepare the ground for the Québec-Lévis tunnel.
“The Minister of Transport is keen on the highway, she wants to keep it there. Is it to evacuate the tens of thousands of cars that will be added there by a possible third link? If that's the case, it's really serious,” said Solidarity MP Sol Zanetti during a press briefing in Parliament on Wednesday morning.
The elected officials were accompanied by David Rioux and Coraline Toupin, a young couple who recently emerged almost unscathed from an accident at the François-de-Laval motorway exit, in the Beauport sector.
In 2021 , a woman, her father and her two children had perished in the same place. A coroner's report then recommended that the exit be redesigned.
The latter is located on the left lane of the highway, after a bend, in a 70 km/h zone. “I mentioned to my spouse when we were at the intersection that I thought it was dangerous. […] A few seconds later, the accident happened,” Ms. Toupin told reporters. Originally from eastern Quebec, the couple took the exit for the first time.
Québec solidaire, which has been campaigning for years for the transformation of this portion of the highway into an urban boulevard, sees in this history one more argument to support his proposal. And indirectly, against the third link.
A photo radar that gives results, pleads the minister
The party calls, initially, for the closure of the exit and, in the longer term, the conversion of this portion of the highway into an urban boulevard.
Minister Geneviève Guilbault, for her part, is putting on a new photo radar at this location. In question period on Wednesday, she reported that speeding had dropped by a third since she was installed on February 3.
“The further we go, the more it's going to have an impact on the behavior of drivers,” she said.
Earlier, Mr. Rioux and Ms. Toupin said that the day after their accident, they were “shocked” to learn that the minister was relying on photo radar to secure the area. This is what prompted them to write to the deputies of QS to complain about it, they mentioned.
“In fact, when you look at the accident rate at this intersection , it is considered weak, “also defended the minister.
The scenario of a closure of the exit, she continued, is not excluded in the longer term. However, such a scenario would force thousands of motorists every day to take two other exits to areas where schools and daycare centers are located, she argues. “At a time when we are all concerned with road safety, especially around schools, I think it is healthy to take this reality into account”.
