By RICK LECKNER - Only one seat is hotter than a Montreal driver's these days: that of Sam Hamad, Quebec's minister of transport, who has held the position since last August. He inherited a truly horrific situation at the transport ministry. The crisis of confidence he and his bureaucrats are facing is rooted in neglect, shoddy work and corruption. People have every right to be mad as hell and should not have to take it anymore.
In the last month alone, fear of roadway collapse has forced officials to close a lane on the 720 west to Highway 20, a lane on the approach from Décarie south to the eastbound Ville Marie, and now the southbound Mercier Bridge.
In the interest of public safety, Hamad had no choice but to order the closures. But it should never have come to this.
The enormous disruption and sheer rage triggered by the Mercier mess - tens of thousands of people are being affected every day - emphasizes the general predicament. It should cause heads to roll and a comprehensive fix initiated. This should be the last straw.
If our road infrastructure had been built properly in the first place and prescribed specifications respected, if regular inspections and maintenance had been followed, how could these closures happen? If the ministry had done its job religiously, closures would not have become so disturbingly routine.
We've all experienced the difference between driving Quebec's cracked, potholeriddled roads vs. those in neighbouring Ontario and U.S. states. We have ruts that almost resemble tracks running the length of major highways in each lane. Distinct roads for our distinct society?
The toll is incalculable - lost hours, lost productivity, elevated stress levels, more time apart from families, added pollution from idling vehicles. Not to mention the wasted multiple millions of dollars in needed emergency repairs. This is a decades-old issue that has been tolerated for too long. So what should be done?
Full disclosure would be a good start. Will we ever learn who cut corners during construction and to what extent? Not in our lifetime. But we need to know exactly what we are now dealing with. A thorough, independent audit of our road system must be completed on an urgent basis. This death by a thousand cuts must stop. How sick is the patient and what is the prognosis for recovery? A full report card is in order, blessed by truly independent experts. Then a multi-year master plan must be developed and shared with the public - not the patchwork of projects that we are spoon-fed each spring.
The issue of road-construction contracts is an ugly one. The transport ministry has formed an anti-collusion unit, the mission of which is "to prevent collusion in the performance of any contracts in which the Ministère des Transports has a direct or indirect financial interest." It's headed by a good man, Jacques Duchesneau, former Montreal police chief. But the unit is not the full-blown construction inquiry many have demanded. Do we not have a right to know why we are in this mess? Do we not have a right to know how billions of our hard-earned dollars have been spent and how things have gone so wrong so consistently?
The Charest government needs to be reminded that we are the customers, and we are also the victims. We have no choice but to pay the bills. We require clarity as to the role the construction firms currently being awarded government contracts played in the past.
But Quebec is not the only culprit.
The city of Montreal has made a bad situation worse. Does it really talk to Transports Québec? You would not think so from the parallel schedules and blockages that shut down our roads. The area of Sherbrooke and Guy Sts. has been a minefield since January. It was to have been cleared by May but is still going strong. In fact, the barricades now extend east to Mountain St. It is simply disgraceful that this prime downtown real estate was not ready for Grand Prix weekend.
A small indication of how slowly things move in the city is my own street, du Musée. It took a full year to repair the pavement after a water-main break, and only by virtue of frequent calls to city representatives. Often barricades are thrown up on major streets and nothing is done for weeks, even months. Accountability is a foreign concept.
We as individuals must also accept part of the blame. Look at how many of us drive alone in our cars every day, resisting carpool lanes, park-and-ride lots and public transit. Our addiction to the automobile has added an unnecessary burden to our roads and has increased traffic volumes beyond their built capacity.
For a city surrounded by water, we cannot afford this constant chaos and being held hostage. It is also dangerous. Hamad has repeatedly said that his main concern is public security.
What is required is a permanent body to develop a master transportation plan, oversee roadwork and enhance traffic safety in the Greater Montreal area. The body should have wide-ranging powers - including forensic accounting - that cannot be influenced by politicians. It would be a wise move for Hamad to let independent experts guide us out of the potholes and onto the road to recovery.
is president of MaisonBrison Communications. He was radio station CJAD's traffic reporter for 30 years.