THIS YEAR, CLOSE TO $85 MILLION TO BE INVESTED IN GATINEAU'S INFRASTRUCTURES

Gatineau, June 13, 2011. – Gatineau will invest approximately $83,450,000 in infrastructure work throughout its territory in 2011. Many of these projects will extend until late fall.

"Gatineau is investing more than ever in its infrastructures. This year in total, Gatineau will spend close to $85 million on every type of work throughout its territory, including drinking water, road safety, the environment and road reconstruction. These major investments are made possible by various subsidy programs such as the PRECO (Quebec's program for the renewal of drinking water and wastewater pipes), the PIQM (the Quebec-municipalities infrastructure program) and the TECQ (Quebec's fuel tax and contribution program)," indicated Gatineau Mayor Marc Bureau.

"As a municipality, it is our responsibility to invest in our infrastructures, and year after year this is what we try to do," added Municipal Councillor and Chair of the Comité des immobilisations et du budget, Luc Montreuil.

The following are a few examples of investments for 2011:

Roads

A $30 million envelope will be dedicated to rebuilding and improving the road network. The main projects are summarized below.

Approximately $2.5 million will be spent on the revitalization (repairing traffic lights, streets, sidewalks and curbs, as well as urban landscaping) of rue Montcalm between rue Papineau and boulevard Alexandre-Taché. This project represents an investment of close to $8 million if you count the $3.5 million invested in the water supply and sewer systems and the $1.8 million from the special urban planning program for urban furniture. This work began on April 26, and will be completed by late fall 2011.

At the same time, Gatineau will redo the surface of boulevard Maloney between boulevard Labrosse and the entrance to parc du Lac-Beauchamp (approximately $2 million) and rebuild chemin de la Savane between Maloney and Gréber ($1.1 million).

A total of $770,000 will be spent on repairing and rebuilding sections of concrete curbs and sidewalks as well as sections of existing roads throughout Gatineau. A budget of $2.2 million will be spent on major patching, and $350,000 on fixing cracks.

Water Supply and Sewer Systems

This year, Gatineau will allocate $36.5 million to its water supply and sewer systems. Thanks to the PRECO, PIQM and TECQ programs, projects are ahead of schedule for some of these sectors, including phases 2 to 4 ($4.5 million) in the Saint-Jean-Bosco sector, phase 2 in the Touraine sector, rue d'Auvergne ($2.5 million) and rue Montcalm between Papineau and Wright ($3.5 million).

Moreover, $11 million will be invested in storm drainage, including $6 million for the Dalton-Bergeron retention basin and $5 million for the Paiement collector.

Buildings and Plants

Gatineau will allocate $9 million to works on buildings and plants. The cost of building reconstruction, repair and upgrading is in the order of $6 million. This will include expanding fire hall number 7 (Gatineau sector) at a cost of $700,000, and the addition of a training tower at fire hall number 8 (Masson-Angers and Buckingham sectors) at a cost of $1.2 million. In addition, there will be a $3 million investment in the production and distribution of drinking water and in wastewater collection and treatment.

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Parks and Green Spaces

City parks will receive a total of $5 million in 2011 for development, and for the replacement or addition of play structures. This amount includes the $1.1 million recently adopted by Gatineau to replace swings.

Other

An additional $2,950,000 will be spent on other works, including $1.75 million to repair and build bike paths, and $1.2 million for speed abatement measures.

This level of activity throughout Gatineau will naturally entail traffic slowdowns. Residents are asked to be prudent and patient.

For additional information: www.gatineau.ca and 3-1-1.