Some Quebec City-area commuters feel betrayed as government shrinks 3rd link

Lévis resident Karine Huard was not happy when she heard the Quebec government was backtracking on its plans for a highway tunnel connecting Quebec City to Lévis.

Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault made the official announcement about the changes Thursday morning, confirming the third link project would be substantially smaller than originally planned and would be exclusively for public transit.

As a resident of the South Shore municipality, Huard says the traffic on the Québec Bridge and the Pierre-Laporte Bridge, which needs repair, is constant.

During the 2022 election campaign, Premier François Legault maintained the project was necessary to reduce traffic congestion and to keep up with population growth in the area.

Huard said she was counting on that becoming a reality.

"We feel tricked. Just to construct a tunnel for public transit despite the traffic that is increasing, it doesn't make sense," said Huard.

"All the promises they made, they're not respecting them."

Guilbault said changes the plans for the tunnel was a "difficult decision" but was made based on about 40 studies and reports on the third link.

But on Wednesday, news of the announcement already had people in the Quebec City area split — with some hoping the change could encourage the use of public transit and others concerned it won't do much for people who depend on their vehicles.

'Sometimes they don't think ahead'

Pointing to apartment buildings under construction in Lévis, local Stéphane Bergeron says the third link should address the increasing population.

He often takes his car into Quebec City and says limiting the lanes to public transit won't do anything to help with the intense traffic.

"They made some nice promises but sometimes they don't think ahead," said Bergeron.

Quebec City's Natacha Castonguay is neither for nor against the project but says she was not surprised by the announcement that the government was backtracking.

She says people have been receiving mixed messages over the past few years.

"Every two weeks we have different scenarios presented to us. What is really not good is the fact that they didn't share the [feasibility] report earlier," said Castonguay.

"We should take a little moment before announcing something and wait for the data."

The government has been criticized for not releasing the results of the feasibility study  which were released Thursday online on the Réseau express de la Capitale website.

A 'courageous' decision says organization promoting public transit

Angèle Pineau-Lemieux, with Accès transports viables, an organization that promotes the use of public transportation, says reserving the lanes for public transit is the "responsible" and "courageous" decision because it reinforces research.

"Everybody's seeing that scientific literature is unanimous. It says clearly that adding more rows, adding more highways always leads in the long term to more traffic … It's a fact," said Pineau-Lemieux.

She says there need to be more options to encourage people to take public transit.

"We need to ask ourselves the question, what's the best way to encourage Quebec City and Lévis residents to change from solo cars to public transit? Because right now people are saying I want to go toward public transit," said Pineau-Lemieux. "But I think that people right now find themselves with no options."

Quebec City mayor Bruno Marchand agreed this new plan could mean good things for the mobility of the two cities.

"It's a great example of leadership from the minister, Geneviève Guilbault, in order to make this project adapted to the new reality, to the new needs," said Marchand at a news conference on Wednesday.