Chris Lowrey
MUN. OF PONTIAC June 6, 2018
The ongoing roadwork on Highway 148 in the Municipality of Pontiac has some residents upset.
The roadwork has been going on since early May and has one alternating lane open. Drivers must follow an escort vehicle through the construction zone.
There is a detour available down Ch. de la Montagne, which many residents have been using – some with the same rate of speed as on Hwy. 148.
The municipality made a post on its Facebook page asking residents to avoid using roads like Elm, Terry Fox, Marquis and Dubois because they are meant for local traffic only.
The municipality said that the residents on these streets have complained numerous times about drivers who speed down their residential streets while using them as detours and kick up large amounts of dust in the process.

To deal with the dust problem, the municipality spent close to $100,000 to treat the roads with calcium to cut back on the amount of dust thrown into the air.
The Facebook post gained plenty of traction with residents complaining about wait times on the highway, the conditions of the detour options and the fact that the municipality was telling residents not to use public roads as detours.
“Motorists should remain on Highway 148 or use de la Montagne Road,” the Facebook post read.
The post also says that since Elm, Terry Fox, Marquis and Dubois are not authorized detour routes, grading of those roads will be limited to once per week, which the municipality says is still four times more often than usual.
Many residents were especially upset with the idea of being fined for driving on a public road. Some suggested that if the municipality doesn’t want people to use these residential roads as detours, it should turn them into privately-maintained roads.
Municipality of Pontiac Acting Assistant Director General, Dominic Labrie, said that there is a possibility of a fine for those who drive on Elm, Terry Fox, Marquis and Dubois.
He said there is a traffic enforcement agency in the Ministry of Transport of Quebec (MTQ) that could hand out fines to drivers.
However, how the MTQ would go about handing out these fines remains unclear.
For instance, Labrie pointed out that commercial vehicles and school busses are using the residential roads as detours and they aren’t allowed on those roads.
Labrie said one of the municipality’s main concerns is cracking down on those who are speeding through residential areas.
He says that the main message is for residents to use Ch. de la Montagne because, unlike last year, there is no construction on that road right now.
But Labrie is also concerned because residents of Ch. de la Montagne complain that vehicles are also speeding down their road.
“We’ve asked the police to be more present in that sector,” Labrie said. “But they have limited resources.”
To make matters worse, the MTQ has said that it won’t give financial assistance to the municipality because the fact that Hwy. 148 is technically open means the MTQ doesn’t have to help the municipality maintain a detour.
Many residents would disagree just how “open” Hwy. 148 actually is since many complained of wait times in excess of 20 minutes before they finally see movement.