MTMD commissions FNX-INNOV to extend Route 138
February 13, 2024
By CCE
Le Ministère des Transports et de la Mobilité Durable du Québec (MTMD) has commissioned consulting engineering firm FNX-INNOV—part of Artelia—to undertake quality control and materials engineering for the extension of Route 138.
The project aims to link Lower North Shore communities to each other and the rest of the province. Nearly 5,000 people live in the region’s five municipalities, two Indigenous communities and one unorganized territory, along nearly 400 km of the St. Lawrence River. Currently, they rely on travel by boat, plane or, in winter, snowmobile. The extension of Route 138 between Tête-à-la-Baleine and La Tabatière would reduce their isolation.
FNX-INNOV’s mandate addresses the construction of two road segments with a total length of 9.1 km, along with a 161.2-m span steel-concrete structure, including three continuous spans of steel beams, to cross the Lac de Gros-Mécatina river.
The project’s technical elements involve treating organic soils, consolidating clay using preloading backfill, counterweights and installing vertical drains. Given the remoteness of the site, equipment will be transported by boat, plane and helicopter, with potential delays due to weather conditions. A materials testing laboratory will need to be built on-site.
Map courtesy FNX-INNOV.
