A massive pileup involving several heavy-duty vehicles that left three people dead on a stretch of Highway 30 in Centre-du-Québec is stoking concerns about increased road traffic due to battery development projects.
“With all the factories being built in the park [industriel et portuaire de Bécancour] There has been a lot more traffic for about 2 years. It is a risky area,” said Sylvain Charland from the company Camions Bécancour.
The accident, which occurred around 2:15 p.m. on a stretch of Highway 30 in Bécancour, Center-du-Québec, involved a car, a van, two 10-wheel trucks and a 53-foot truck. After the accident, the trucks caught fire and a large cloud of black smoke could be seen for several kilometers.
Three riders sustained serious injuries and were pronounced dead in hospital that evening, while two others escaped with minor injuries.
Trucks transported stones and grain. After the accident there was a diesel leak, so a team from the Ministry of the Environment was expected on site.
Four fatal accidents in 2021
In 2021 alone, no fewer than 4 fatal accidents occurred within a few months on this section of the highway where the two lanes intersect.
For this reason, the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility carried out a safety study which concluded that the sector was “not at risk of accidents”, summarized Roxanne Pellerin, spokesperson for the MTMD.
However, the arrival of the battery industry and its numerous projects in the Bécancour industrial park in recent years has led to an increase in traffic.
The MTMD therefore had to start a new study at the end of 2023 and announced three immediate measures, including the addition of ramps and the rehabilitation of an intersection.
Increased concerns
The road safety problems linked to this “increase in traffic and heavy goods traffic” worry the mayor of Bécancour, Lucie Allard, who calls on the MTMD to accelerate its considerations on the future configuration of the motorway.
“We are happy with the start of the study, but it must be carried out much faster because it is about people's safety,” explains the mayor, for whom yesterday's accident renewed this concern.
According to MTMD, the increase in traffic during the current construction phase of the factories will be even greater than during operation.
“They'll have to sort this out, that's for sure. “It's unthinkable that with everything that's going to happen there, the new factories, they leave it like this, otherwise something like this will happen again,” said trucker Patrick Tremblay, who regularly uses that stretch of Highway 30.
-With the QMI agency
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