For those unfamiliar with the section of Route 12, known as the Cascumpec Road, it's 19-kilometres from Portage to Alberton, dotted with fields, farms, and forests with beautiful views of the Cascumpec Bay and the rivers that feed it.
Filled with gently rolling hills, winding turns and having almost been completely repaved in the King government's recent resurfacing rampage. This road seems like an ideal route for a cyclist looking for a Saturday ride, or at least that's what I thought before heading out from Alberton Saturday, Nov. 28. It wasn't long before I had a hearse whiz by within a meter as I climbed a blind hill; talk about bad omens. Further on down the road, I encountered someone walking on the opposite side of the road, with long lines of half-ton trucks and SUVs coming from both directions it quickly became a hairy situation. Fortunately, the vehicle at the front of the oncoming lane slowed to a near stop giving both myself and the walker some much-needed space.
Another kilometre or so and I'd have the closest call of the day when rounding a blind turn with a half-ton truck in the oncoming lane, a small car and white SUV flew past me crossing the double solid center line forcing both me and the oncoming half-ton to swerve on to the unpaved shoulder. And that unpaved shoulder is also in part what makes the Cascumpec Road so dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians, forcing us to share a lane with the multi-ton vehicles now effortlessly exceeding speed limits on asphalt as smooth as the Autobahn.
The fact that millions were invested in revitalizing this stretch and many other roads for those behind the wheel of gas-guzzling motor vehicles while adding nothing to increasing the appeal or even safety of active transportation says a lot about what this government prioritizes.
Samuel Arsenault,
Alberton
