More than half of Quebec roads in poor condition as maintenance deficit nears $30B, coalition says

More than 50 per cent of Quebec’s roads are now in poor condition, and the province faces a road infrastructure maintenance deficit approaching $30 billion, according to a coalition of industry groups, researchers, business organizations and road-user representatives.

The Coalition for Better Roads in Quebec unveiled five recommendations Tuesday aimed at slowing the deterioration of the provincial road network while reducing long-term costs for taxpayers.

“Quebec needs to rethink its approach to road maintenance and rehabilitation,” said coalition member Éric Lachance-Tremblay, a construction engineering professor at the École de technologie supérieure.

The coalition argues Quebec relies too heavily on rebuilding roads after they have significantly deteriorated rather than investing in preventive maintenance that could extend pavement life and avoid more expensive repairs later.

Among the five recommendations, the group wants the government to create a contingency fund dedicated to maintaining the network.

“Preventive maintenance carried out at the right time costs only a fraction of a full reconstruction. The longer we wait to intervene, the higher the bill becomes for taxpayers,” said Marc Joncas, the president of Eurovia Québec, which is part of the coalition.

Coalition members say Quebec already has access to technologies and engineering expertise capable of extending the lifespan of roads but that these solutions are not being deployed widely enough.

“Several technologies capable of significantly extending the lifespan of roads already exist and are being used elsewhere in North America,” said Lachance-Tremblay. “The challenge now is to accelerate their large-scale adoption.

“What we need to do is take into consideration what does the road need. This particular road, we need to look at what’s underneath, what’s the problem, and then select the good material. There’s not one material that can solve all problems.

The other recommendations are accelerating the adoption of innovative construction technologies; increasing the recycling of road-building materials; standardizing infrastructure practices across the province; and improving knowledge-sharing between government, industry and universities.

Transport Québec told CityNews in a statement it would “take note” of the recommendations made by the coalition.

“The safety of road users and the mobility of people and goods are at the heart of the Ministry’s mission,” it wrote. “That is why the Ministry invests considerable sums each year so that Quebecers can benefit from a safe road network on the 31,137 km of roads under its responsibility.”

Bidding process

CAA-Québec, also part of the coalition, says the problems begin with the bidding process.

“They’ve been talking a lot about the way to actually give out contracts in Quebec,” said Nicolas Ryan, the public affairs director at CAA-Québec. “With the lowest bidder right now, is that preventive to innovation? People are just going to bid the lowest because there’s a recipe for a cake. They have to do the cake as the recipe said.

“But in the end, if that recipe will last five years, it’s going to cost a couple of million dollars, could we invest maybe five, six, seven more million dollars in that same project, but then it’s going to last 10, 12 years? I do believe we have to look at these types of situations right now.”

“We have different mixes or different designs that would probably be more profitable in terms of years, but today that’s not what they’re asking for, so we can’t change that,” added Joncas. “That’s what’s happening right now with the lowest-bidder bids in Quebec.”

‘Potholes constantly’

CityNews spoke to drivers in Montreal Tuesday, with most noting how poor the road conditions appear in Quebec.

“To come to Quebec and it’s like potholes constantly, I think it’s pretty bizarre,” said Tinnyse Johnson.

“If I travel to Ontario, I just ask myself why all of a sudden, same climate, why all of a sudden isn’t much better,” said Stuart Waldman.

“When you see New York, when you see other places where they have the same climate conditions, the highways are better than ours, especially in Montreal,” added Orlando Arriagada.

“I was driving even the last summer in Ontario, I saw the road condition is way better. I mean, our materials is not that good, but same country, same weather,” said Muhammad Rashid, the owner-instructor at Safa Driving School.

With Quebec voters heading to the polls in October, Ryan at CAA-Québec says it’s time for electors to start asking questions.

“We want to hear about the upcoming parties: What do you want to do about it? What’s your objective with roads? You want to actually maintain them? Do you want to be better with it? Do you want to build some new infrastructure?”

–With files from The Canadian Press