Two ministers, a mayor and all his advisers to announce the construction of 2.9 kilometers of reserved lanes: The CAQ government and the City of Lévis would have liked to illustrate yesterday the worrying delay in the development of public transport on the south coast, which they could not have found better.
Nobody is against apple pie. So it’s hard not to admit that the introduction of reserved lanes in Lévis is good news. It is a step, as Mayor Gilles Lehouillier said yesterday, flanked by Ministers Bernard Drainville and Geneviève Guilbault.
But the truth is that this “step” is a tiny gesture considering the indecent delay Lévis has endured in terms of public transport. A gesture that, as the opposition emphasized yesterday, does not encourage modal shift, i.e. switching to another mode of transport, but rather will maintain the modal share in the corridor. Nothing more.
lack of ambition
Gilles Lehouillier, a veteran cyclist, said yesterday that he is now being overtaken by electric bikes, which citizens use to commute to work. You still have to be serious and analyze the situation beyond the anecdote.
As Minister Drainville pointed out, Lévis has the highest population growth rate among the ten largest cities in Quebec. It is now “dangerously” closer to becoming Quebec’s sixth-largest city, added the mayor, who also highlighted expected developments thanks to federal contracts guaranteed to Davie.
These should be more reasons to show ambition, which, on the contrary, turns out to be the most modest.
Six years ago, Lévis decided to exit the SRB project between Quebec and Lévis, which provided an important link with the heavy structuring of transport between the two banks. It is also not served by the tram. Heavy transport is also prohibited on the Boulevard Guillaume-Couture, where the reserved lanes are set up.
Mr Lehouillier is proud that the boulevards will be made more user-friendly and the cycle lanes improved. But for a city that wants to play in the big leagues, mobility is inevitably a bad relationship.
blow bar
Changing habits would require a major overhaul in a city where 85% of trips are made by car due to a lack of alternatives. At least that’s what all the experts who have spoken out on the subject over the years say, no matter what Gilles Lehouillier says.
I write “over the years” because the mayor has been talking about these reserved lanes that just got funded for the past six years.
When we talk about a priority, as the elected officials mentioned yesterday, we assume that we have been slow to put the energy into it. And this regardless of the context that has increased costs, which of course affects all transport infrastructure projects in Quebec.
repair affront
Eager to forget the affront it suffered this spring when it abandoned the unjustified promise of a third motorway link, the CAQ government is seeking to restore ties with Lévis.
But ministers may use superlatives, finding solutions to the South Bank’s congestion will take far more than reserved lanes of less than two miles. Just as it takes a lot more to be forgiven by voters.
