Canada/Duchénier Road to be paved at last

After years of waiting, users of Chemin Duchénier will finally be able to drive on a paved road to one of La Neigette's main tourist attractions. The Municipality of Saint-Narcisse-de-Rimouski recently received confirmation of approximately $4 million in financial assistance to upgrade the artery leading to the Duchénier wildlife reserve and the Canyon des Portes de l'Enfer.

People were really fed up with being in the dust all summer. [...] At every meeting, people were talking about it," says Mayor Gervais Soucy, who had been waiting for such an announcement for over 15 years.

The Chemin Duchénier links Saint-Narcisse-de-Rimouski to the Territoire d'expériences récréatives des forêtsts, TERFA, which includes the wildlife reserve and canyon, visited by some 40,000 outdoor enthusiasts every year.

The problem is that half of this road is unpaved, while the vast majority of TERFA users access the territory via Saint-Narcisse-de-Rimouski, as opposed to the access road from the Saint-Guy sector of Lac-des-Aigles.

In the past, the Ministère des Transports refused to take charge of the Narcisse portion of the road " for reasons of equity " with the other municipalities. The TERFA territory is already accessible from Route 296 to the west.

Many local residents regularly complained about the condition of the road, which had been a regular feature on CAA-Quebec's list of the worst roads in Quebec for several years. It had even prompted Saint-Narcisse-de-Rimouski to hire a full-time grader operator to maintain its gravel roads, including chemin Duchénier.

But after years of patience, the road may be less rough this year. The municipality will receive an envelope of $3.9 million from the Ministère des Transports et de la Mobilité durable to upgrade approximately 4.6 kilometers of the road.

Calls for tender will be issued in the spring, according to Mayor Gervais Soucy.

Relief for TERFA

Not surprisingly, TERFA is delighted with the improved road access to its facilities, which will enhance the comfort of road users less accustomed to dirt roads, such as motorcyclists and motorists towing trailers.

In practice, Chemin Duchénier will not be completely paved. The paving will stop about two kilometers from the TERFA reception pavilion, at the Fond d'Ormes road. We wanted it to be as close as possible to the entrance to Canyon des Portes de l'Enfer, because it's inside a wildlife reserve. inside a wildlife reserve, it's more complicated," explains TERFA General Manager Maxime Gendron.

Millions of dollars have recently been invested to develop the Réserve faunique Duchénier and Canyon des Portes de l'Enfer sites, which aim to attract up to 50,000 people over the next few years. The former mayor of Saint-Narcisse, Mario Guertin, saw inconsistency in investing such large sums without improving the local road network.

The $3.9 million envelope comes from MTMD's Programme d'aide à la voirie locale.

Source: ici.radio-canada.ca/