Fewer drivers use Quebec City region's bridges daily, casting doubt on 3rd link

Data from the Transport Ministry suggests the pandemic has changed driving habits in the Quebec City area.

Its release comes on the heels of Premier François Legault saying he is "still determined" to make a third link — a tunnel that would connect Québec City and Lévis across the St. Lawrence — estimated to cost $6.5 billion.

In January, nearly 17,000 fewer vehicles used the Pierre-Laporte and Quebec bridges every day compared to 2019.

An average of 103,353 vehicles travelled on the Pierre-Laporte bridge each work day in January 2023, compared to 116,569 vehicles in January 2019.

During the same period, the average number of vehicles travelling on the Quebec Bridge dropped from 33,390 to 29,970 vehicles. Taking data for the two bridges together, 11 per cent fewer vehicles travelled in the sector in January 2023.

For the whole of 2022, the Transport Ministry noted that the average daily flow on the bridges fell by 13 per cent compared to 2019, confirming that the trend already reported last November was not neglibile.

"It should send a message to politicians," said Fanny Tremblay-Racicot, an associate professor in municipal and regional administration at École nationale d'administration publique (ENAP).

She said statistics show there is no need to build a third link to make traffic more fluid.

"We see on the bridges the congestion is slowing down. It doesn't justify an investment of several billion dollars,"

Effects of remote work

Tuesday at the National Assembly, Legault promised to unveil in the coming weeks the updated studies concerning the third Quebec-Lévis link.

Faced with skepticism, he also reiterated his interest in the project and said that as a manager of public funds, he has a responsibility to take into account the impacts of remote work.

But Tremblay-Racicot said that "in the spirit of sound management of public funds," many other less costly solutions are needed before the construction of a third link.

"There isn't even a common public transport network on the current bridges," she said.

Tremblay-Racicot noted that remote work, which has become widespread since the pandemic, is a factor that helps manage demand on the road network.

"We should take advantage of this time to go a little further and to offer other options to those who continue to travel by car," she said, referring to the development of incentive parking lots and shuttle routes for the workers as examples.

Currently, fewer than a dozen Transport Ministry officials manage the Quebec-Lévis tunnel.

"The people involved in the management and preparation of the tunnel project perform dozens of tasks daily, which can take the form of meetings, drafting documents, analyses and producing studies," Transport Ministry spokesperson Nicolas Vigneault said in an email.

The ministry has also enlisted the services of around 200 agents, who work, for example, on pre-project evaluations.

In addition to the drilling activities that have taken place over the past year, Vigneault said "other marine and land drilling will be necessary and a geophysical investigation campaign is planned for this year."