Quebec pledges $8 billion to aging roads

(CBC) - The Quebec government will spend nearly $8 billion to improve the province's aging roads, highways and bridges, Transport Minister Michel Després announced Wednesday.

The province will spend the money over four years, with the first $1.7 billion invested in 2007.

Some of the money will go to building new roads and structures, while other funds will be spent on maintaining the existing road network, Després said.

The news was welcomed by some Quebecers.

"We are very happy for the citizens of Quebec who can now finally hope to drive on an improved road network," said Denis Turgeon, president of the Quebec association of road workers.

Turgeon said he would have liked to have seen even more money invested, explaining that it could take $2 billion a year for 10 years to get Quebec's roads into good condition.

About 80 per cent of Quebec's roads and bridges were built in the 1950s and 1960s and Després admits they have been allowed to deteriorate too long.

In September, an overpass collapsed in Laval, killing five people, but Després said this investment is not a reaction to that tragedy.

"I already announced it to people in the transport industry last year," he said Wednesday.

Michel Gagnon, president of the association that represents Quebec's engineers, said the government is not wise to spend one third of the new money on building new roads.

He said the province shouldn't expand its road network when it can barely afford to maintain its existing one.

"When we don't have the means to maintain our home, we don't build a bigger home," he said.

Normand Parisien, who's with the activist group Transport 2000, thinks some money should be spent on public transit.

"Half and half between highway and transit systems," he said.

The news should be welcome to commuters, says Monique Lacombe, who covers traffic in Montreal for CBC Radio. She said drivers have told her they've been worried about Quebec's roads ever since the Laval tragedy.

"I think this is something the government needs to do to reassure commuters ... that they are safe on our roadways," she said.

- with files from the Canadian Press -
© the CBC, 2007