More than 50 per cent of Quebec’s roads are now in poor condition, and the province faces a road infrastructure maintenance deficit approaching $30 billion, according to a coalition of industry groups, researchers, business organizations and road-user representatives.
The Coalition for Better Roads in Quebec unveiled five recommendations Tuesday aimed at slowing the deterioration of the provincial road network while reducing long-term costs for taxpayers.
The group argues that Quebec relies too heavily on rebuilding roads after they have significantly deteriorated rather than investing in preventive maintenance that could extend pavement life and avoid more expensive repairs later.
Among its recommendations are protecting preventive maintenance budgets through a dedicated reserve fund, accelerating the adoption of innovative construction technologies, increasing the recycling of road-building materials, standardizing infrastructure practices across the province and improving knowledge-sharing between government, industry and universities.
“Preventive maintenance carried out at the right time costs only a fraction of a full reconstruction,” said Marc Joncas, president of Eurovia Quebec. “The longer we wait to intervene, the higher the bill becomes for taxpayers.”
Coalition members say Quebec already has access to technologies and engineering expertise capable of extending the lifespan of roads but that these solutions are not being deployed widely enough.
“Several technologies capable of significantly extending the lifespan of roads already exist and are being used elsewhere in North America,” said Éric Lachance-Tremblay, a construction engineering professor at the École de technologie supérieure. “The challenge now is to accelerate their large-scale adoption.”
