The Great Pavement Change on Highway 40/417 at the Quebec-Ontario border

Tired of motorists from here and abroad comparing Quebec highway pavement with its neighbours by noticing the changes at the provincial and U.S. borders, the Quebec government has mandated the Transport Department to shorten repaving cycles for five kilometres of roadway at each of the borders so the Quebec pavement looks better than its neighbours.

The directive, which I acquired through an access to information request (the documents are large, but I hope to post them later today), requires the repaving of the following highways once every two years, or whenever the highway across the border is repaved, whichever is sooner:

• Autoroute 5, from kilometre 0 (the Ontario border) to 5
• Autoroute 15, from kilometre 0 (the New York border) to 6 (Route 202)
• Autoroute 20, from kilometre 0 (the Ontario border) to 5
• Autoroute 40, from kilometre 0 (the Ontario border) to 5
• Autoroute 55, from kilometre 0 (the Vermont border) to 5
• Route 101 from the Ontario border to Chemin Kipawa
• Route 117 from the Ontario border to Chemin Kanasuta
• Route 132 from the New York border to Chemin de la Pointe Fraser
• Route 132 for five kilometres on each side of New Brunswick Route 11
• Route 133 from the Vermont border to Chemin du Moulin
• Route 139 from the Vermont border to Chemin du Pinacle
• Route 141 from the Vermont border to Chemin Charest
• Route 147 from the Vermont border to Chemin Poulin
• Route 148 from the Ontario border (near Pembroke) to Chemin de Ceinture
• Route 161 from the Maine border to Route 212
• Route 173 from the Maine border to an unnamed road five kilometres in
• Route 185 from the New Brunswick border to the Hydro Québec station
• Route 203 from the New York border to Route 202
• Route 209 from the New York border to Route 202
• Route 219 from the New York border to Route 202
• Route 221 from the New York border to Route 202
• Route 223 from the New York border to Route 202
• Route 225 from the New York border to Route 202
• Route 235 from the Vermont border to Chemin Chevalier
• Route 237 from the Vermont border to Chemin de Saint-Amand
• Route 243 from the Vermont border to Chemin de la Vallée Missisquoi
• Route 247 from the Vermont border to Rue Woodside
• Route 253 from the Vermont border to Chemin des Côtes
• Route 257 from the New Hampshire border to Route 210
• Route 289 from the New Brunswick border to 4e Rang
• Route 301 from the Ontario border to Chemin des Outaouais
• Route 338, from the Ontario border to Chemin Sainte-Claire
• Route 340, from the Ontario border to Chemin Saint-André
• Route 344 and Rue Maple (in Grenville) from the Ontario border to Route 148
• Route 389 from the Labrador border to Lac Mogridge
• Boulevard Interprovincial from the New Brunswick border to Route 132
• Boulevard Docteur Camille Marcoux in Blanc-Sablon from the Labrador border to Rue Goodchild

That’s almost 40 highways and provincially-maintained roads that will get much more regular maintenance now.

What’s interesting about this plan isn’t so much that the government is being selective about highway maintenance, but how it’s being budgeted. There are rules that prevent the government from giving more money to certain roads for political reasons. So instead, the increase in maintenance costs is being considered a tourism expense, a way to make Quebec look better to potential visitors (though I don’t know how many are crossing the border at New Hampshire).

Critics will undoubtedly pan this move as a pathetic attempt to make things look better than they are. But the government is betting that eliminating the border comparisons, as transparent as they are about it, will at least help the province in bar-room arguments.

If it works, maybe the next move will be to make the roads gold-plated.