If you live in Quebec or spend any amount of time driving our roads and highways, you have likely hit a pothole that made your teeth rattle and quite possibly damaged your car.
I have spoken to garage mechanics who have told me they fix an increasing number of damaged tires, rims and shocks because of one too many potholes. No matter how much you may try to avoid them, there is always one lurking somewhere you least expect it – even in summer.
I recently hit a large one coming off the Highway 15 north exit from the Ville Marie east. It was so bad I thought for sure it must have suddenly appeared out of nowhere, given it was on such a well-travelled exit. So I called 311, confident that someone from Transport Quebec or the city of Montreal would send a crew to fix it. That was over two months ago. The same pothole still greets me every time I take that exit. Now I am wise to it and have learned to swerve my car to avoid it – except for the occasional time when I forget. It’s now a test to see how alert I am!
Similarly, I have to remember a nasty pothole on Kilmar road in Grenville-sur-la-Rouge leading to Highway 50. Kilmar, nicknamed “Kill-car” by some, once made the list of the province’s worst roads. Sure enough, that pothole was still there at least four months after I called it in.
So, imagine my surprise when I drove along Chemin de la Haute-Rivière in the Valley recently. It was like I had been transported on a magic carpet ride of pavement – all the way from Châteauguay to Howick — not one pothole or even a dip in the road! I kept wondering how it was possible to drive on such an immaculate road in Quebec. I have no idea how long ago it was repaved, but it was an unexpected joy to drive.
That says a lot about the sad state of most of our roads and highways, which have been in decline for decades now.
When a single pothole-free road feels like it doesn’t belong in this province, we need to question why. It’s unacceptable that decent roads like that are rare in Quebec.
Caroline Van Vlaardingen
CTV Montreal News Anchore rare in Quebec.