Transports Qu├®bec

Road renovation┬áTransports Qu├®bec, the agency charged with ensuring the safe passage of people and goods throughout the Canadian province, is literally building new lanes to the future, Kate Sawyer reports. Reliable delivery is a crucial element of modern business. In the Canadian province of Quebec, the Ministry of Transport, also known as Transports Qu├®bec, is charged with maintaining the infrastructure that makes reliable delivery possible, from refurbishing roads and overseeing railways to administering ports. The road network is an essential component of the economy, as it ensures the movement of passengers and goods throughout the province. Transports Qu├®bec is responsible for approximately 29,000 kilometers, or approximately 17,400 miles, of freeways (known in the province as ÔÇ£autoroutesÔÇØ), national highways, regional highways, and collector roads. In addition, it looks after approximately 4,700 bridges and overpasses, 1,200 kilometers of resource access roads, and 3,600 kilometers of mining roads. In the last 15 years, the number of passenger vehicles on the roads of Quebec increased by 68 percent, while the number of heavy-duty trucks went up nearly 35 percent. In the same time period, the total number of motor vehicles rose by 42 percent. Therefore, Transports Qu├®becÔÇÖs objectives regarding the road network include: ensuring better conservation of the network; maintaining efforts to improve the network; adapting the network to changing travel needs by maximizing use of the existing infrastructures; and making efforts to maintain and develop the regionÔÇÖs economic activity and ensure the safety of road network users.Given the many factors that need to be consideredÔÇöthe enormous size of the province, the low population density, the presence of many watercourses, the harsh variable climate and the heavy traffic in the large urban centers of Montr├®al and Qu├®bec CityÔÇöQuebec is one of the most difficult areas in the world in which to maintain and operate a road network. Climatic conditions in Quebec are particularly severeÔÇöwithin just a few hours, temperatures can vary as much as 25┬░C, and for four months out of every year the ground freezes to a depth of from 1.2 to 3 meters. In spring, after resisting deep-level freezing deformation, roadways must withstand heavy loads during the thaw period, when pavement strength is reduced by 40 percent. Because of these strenuous conditions, it is paramount that the roads employed in Quebec are built and maintained with the best technologies available.The Quebec road network, which was built largely in the 1960s and 1970s, is showing clear signs of aging. In a difficult economy, Transports Qu├®bec is faced with having to carry out numerous major maintenance and rehabilitation works.One major focus for Transports Qu├®bec has been the addition of two lanes to Autoroute 85, formerly Route 185, the fourth most-traveled entryway to the province of Quebec. More than C$13 billion worth of cargo passes through the corridor between Saint-Antonin and Rivi├¿re-du-Loup each year. It is of utmost importance to the local economy to keep the major provincial arteries safe and efficient. At present, Route 185 is a two-lane highway with passing lanes.Known as ÔÇ£twinning,ÔÇØ the goal of the project is to transform this section of the Trans-Canada Highway into a four-lane superhighway, thereby retiring Route 185. This improvement serves a dual purpose: the renovation will not only decrease the substantial traffic delays in the region, but it will also improve overall vehicular safety.The Autoroute 85 project is 94 kilometers in its entirety, running from the junction of Autoroute 20 in Rivi├¿re-du-Loup southeast to the New Brunswick provincial border. Owing to its size, the project has been broken into four distinct sections for ease of project management. Thus far, only the first 8.8-kilometer section has been completed, at a cost of C$114 million. All told, the cost of the road reconstruction project is estimated to be C$1.1 billion, and the funds are sourced from both the provincial and federal governments.Construction began on the second section of the project in 2006 and is slated for completion in 2010, totaling 12.2 kilometers stretching from Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! to Cabano. The total cost of this section of road is C$202 million. The last two remaining sections are the largest to tackle and will span a total of 73 kilometers in length. Transports Qu├®bec is collaborating with the New Brunswick Transport Ministry to connect two kilometers in both directions from the provincial border.┬á