This site is neither a sales campaign nor a business plan. It's a citizen proposal : to show that an underground cycling network is technically plausible and economically reasonable for the Québec City region, then hand this idea over to those who can truly move it forward.
My first step : a real study
Everything you read here — the dimensions, the costs, the geology — rests on serious research, but conducted by a citizen, with the tools of a citizen. It demonstrates that the concept holds up. It does not replace the work of professionals.
My goal, at first, is therefore not to build anything. It's to convince the levels of government — municipal, provincial, federal — to fund a first official study, entrusted to engineering firms and geologists, in order to :
Confirm that the route, the access tunnels and the stations are feasible under current standards.
Verify the nature of the region's rock and soils to establish what can be dug, where and at what pace.
Replace my estimates with a professional construction and operating budget.
A study like that costs a tiny fraction of the project itself, but it's what turns a citizen idea into a credible case. It's the only honest gateway to an informed public decision : if the study concludes it's a bad idea, so be it, at least we'll know. If it confirms the potential, then the debate can truly begin.
A first engineering and geology study, publicly funded, to prove — or disprove — the design and the costs.
I'm its author, not its owner
I originated this concept and have devoted an enormous amount of time to it (you can read its story in About and follow its evolution in the history of ideas). But I make no claim to own it.
Bike Tunnel Québec is an open idea. Everyone is free to take it up, criticize it, improve it, correct it, and above all to try to move it forward — whether you're a citizen, engineer, urban planner, elected official, journalist or simply curious. If someone does better than me, all the better : it's the project that matters, not its author.
How to push the project forward with me
A citizen project only advances if people take hold of it. Here are the most useful actions, from the simplest to the most committed :
Follow the project, share it, join the discussion group. The more of us there are, the more the idea weighs.
Find the flaws, propose fixes. A better-crafted concept convinces more easily.
Talk to your representatives. A public study begins with political will.
Want to get on board ? Bike Tunnel Québec moves forward thanks to everyone's ideas. Write to me or join the discussion, and help me convince our governments to launch this first study.