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Bitume Québec petitions provincial government on road rehabilitation

MONTREAL – With Québec’s 2024 provincial budget approaching, Bitume Québec has petitioned the province’s Minister of Finance, Eric Girard, with a revision of a recent report public by the Auditor General of Quebec (AGQ) on the state of the province’s road networks.

The revision calls on the government to show “vision and boldness” in future road investments and rehabilitation projects, a release said.

The AGQ report recognized that pavements are vulnerable to climate change, and with 50% of Québec’s road network in poor condition – including 8,075 kilometres of pavement – this problem will only worsen, especially due to the 25-year timeline to rehabilitate this volume of affected roads.

Bitume Quebec’s president, Tytus Zurawski, said it is more important than ever for the government to show foresight by increasing investments to halt the wear and premature deterioration of the province’s road networks.

Currently, the province’s investment in pavement rehabilitation is less than the deterioration rate of these roads, with Bitume Quebec sharing that this situation could significantly worsen should the level of repair investments remain unchanged. Quebec’s pavement asset maintenance deficit has risen from $7 billion in 2018 to $10 billion in 2022.

Bitume Quebec’s revised document urged the government to innovate “with the aim of improving the durability and quality of interventions, thereby extending the service life of pavements and promoting the sustainability of the road network,” adding that “every dollar invested in rehabilitation avoids an average of between $13 and $15 in direct damage resulting from accidents and in indirect damage to the economy.”