Donald Teuma-Castelletti
PONTIAC June 20, 2017
A long-term plan to smooth out some of the more disastrous roads in the Pontiac is getting closer to fruition, but it won’t come cheap.
Even with funding coming from Quebec’s Ministry of Transportation (MTQ), estimates for the cost of the project are sitting at $41.7 million.
Initial estimates for the project had anticipated a planning budget of $13.75 million over five years for the entire MRC.
However, with the roads surveyed turning out to be worse than expected, that budget just won’t cut it.

“Projecting almost $14 million on a five-year plan, we know right now it’s not enough,” said MRC Warden Ray Durocher.
That’s because an engineering company brought in to survey the local roads and culverts produced some alarming results.
Of the roads submitted for observation by municipalities, 16 per cent were deemed ‘bad’ and 11 per cent ‘very bad.’ As well, culverts analyzed found that 23 per cent were found to be ‘deficient’ and another 22 per cent are ‘critical.’
Therefore, with these results, the smaller budget will need reworking.
“If you don’t have these plans, you can’t maximize the [grant] money,” said Durocher. “That’s the reality to do those assessments.”
The MRC first began the process of getting the roads fixed in August 2016, when municipalities were invited to submit what they considered priority roads or segments to the study. Since then, an engineering company was brought in to assess those concerns, and the budget as well as the survey results were compiled. In addition, an intervention strategy was fleshed out across a five-year plan.
This intervention strategy defined key targets for the MRC’s objectives, including eliminating dangerous sites, reducing the number of locations considered in the critical zone, maintaining acceptable zones to prevent deterioration and doing so in a sustainable way.
A large portion of the plan going forward includes a focus on preventative maintenance, so as to make sure roads meet a minimum standard and are repaired in a timely fashion.
Now, with much of the research done, the hope is to get as much money as possible from the MTQ’s funding. And the best way to do so is through implementing a long-term strategy for the Pontiac’s infrastructure.
“Now we’re setting the first step for a long-term strategy for the MRC Pontiac and local municipalities. It’s a new way of maximizing what we can get,” said Durocher. “Now we have the arguments and the engineers’ report, which show that these are important [roads for] access to municipalities in our region that need attention now.”