Quebec’s first major P3 highway is new route to Laval

Site work is due to start this winter on the $600-million new highway and toll bridge between Montreal and Laval. Engineering consultants Genivar are part of the P3 consortium that was hired for the Highway 25 and a cable stayed bridge over Riviere des Prairies.The road is a 7.2 kilometre stretch of highway going north, linking Henri-Bourassa Boulevard in Montreal and Highway 440 in Quebec. It has been long anticipated and promoted as a new route that is necessary to relieve increasing traffic congestion in the northeast part of the city, where population growth has burgeoned in Laval, Terrebonne and Mascouche.
Highway 25 is Quebec’s first major public-private-partnership in the transportation sector. The consortium selected for the work out of three proponents is known as Concession A25, LP. It is headed by an Australian banking company, Macquarie Infrastructure Group — which also has an interest in Ontario’s Highway 407 toll road. Other companies in the consortium besides Genivar, are Kiewit Construction, St. Laurent Cement, Parsons Overseas and Miller Paving. The consortium has an agreement to design, construct, fund, operate and maintain the highway for a period of 35 years.
The highway is to have two lanes in each direction, as well as a cyclist and pedestrian path and a lane reserved for public transit. The bridge over the river will be a cable-stayed structure of 1.2 kilometres with three lanes in each direction.
Toll charges over the bridge will be established by the private consortium according to a timetable stipulated with the government. The maximum anticipated for rush hour when the highway is opened in 2011 will be $2.40.
The Concession A25 consortium was selected for the project last June, beating out competing groups that involved two large consulting engineering companies, SNC-Lavalin and Dessau.
Genivar is also competing on several other major highway expansions in the Montreal area, including the province’s second major P3 project, the expansion of Highway 30 on Montreal’s South Shore. This 30-kilometre stretch of road has a value of approximately $1 billion. Genivar is part of the Infras-Quebec A30 consortium competing for this project.
The extension will take the road between Riviere St. Pierre in St. Constant and the existing Highway 30 in St. Catherine. The work involves 30 kilometres of highway and 32 bridges. Submissions in the bidding for that P3 project are due in March.