Road network conditions

The network covered by the road conditions information system is divided into over 350 segments (this number may vary from one year to another). The Ministère assigned one person per segment. The person in charge must check the road conditions on that segment and report them using the provincial road condition management system. As soon as data is received, it is transmitted to the central computer system, which updates the information on Québec 511 within five minutes. Data is also regularly made available to the media and sent to specialized media such as Météomédia, which broadcasts road condition bulletins twice an hour during the winter period.

For obvious organizational reasons, and to be able to provide reliable, up-to-date information, the Ministère decided to cover through roads only, since the road conditions information service is used mainly by people travelling outside their region. Restricting the number of roads is necessary if we want to meet our objectives of providing accurate and quality information using the monitoring process in place. In the case of two parallel roads, we provide information only on the most frequently used road, conditions on the road parallel to it being usually similar or worse.

Information on road conditions is posted continuously from October 15 to April 15. Outside of that period, only road conditions other than the combination of “clear” road and “good” or “reduced” visibility are posted.