Understanding and Assessing Impacts
The Forillon Peninsula’s location and condition makes it particularly vulnerable to climate change hazards and coastal erosion. This problem has been known for many years. At the start of the 20th century, residents built a road along the upper beach in the Cap-des-Rosiers area. In 1926, the coastal road was officially constructed between the lighthouse and the Cap-des-Rosiers harbour, directly on the active part of the upper beach. Soon, the new road needed to be protected by stone-filled timber cribs and, over time, additional protective structures, such as a wooden wall and a stone embankment, were built to protect the route from inclement weather. More recently, riprap was installed along an approximately two-kilometre stretch in 1980 and a concrete wall was built in the 1990s. Coastal erosion and damage to the road and associated infrastructure have been particularly severe since the mid-1990s, with the protective structures no longer adequate. In 2011, part of the road had to be relocated due to a large breach in the riprap and damage to a 15,000-V volt electrical cable. The road relocation project was carried out over seven years, from 2015 to 2021.