Quebec Autoroute Guy-Lafleur [Highway A50]
 

I know that we discussed Quebec Hgy 50 before but I couldn't find the thread to it, so I'm starting a new thread, for what it's worth.

The news are that this highway that has been 50 years in the making (first planned in 1962 under Jean Lesage's Quiet Revolution government) is now fully open from Gatineau to Montreal.

http://ledroit.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx

Its 189 Kms makes it shorter and quicker than Ontario's 417 as well as being more panoramic. It can be picked at it's very beginning off Montcalm St where the old CPR station used to be and, I think, the STO Rapibus is also ending (??).

Humm..!
What if HGY 50 was extended to the Ontario side using the Prince of Wales Bridge right-of-way? or if Ontario & Quebec & the feds would build a LRT/Rapibus and car traffic bridge at that site that would link up the Ottawa River Parkway (aka John A. Macdonald Parkway) to Hgy 50?

It took 50 years to build Hgy 50.
How long should it take for an interprovincial bridge that makes sense?

It could link to the 417 at Gladstone with a road built over the O-Train tracks?

That sounds like a 100 year project to me..... :)

You might find this site in French interesting:

http://gui4.wordpress.com/2008/07/23...rucs-bizzares/

An old plan for an autoroute (Deschênes) with a bypass across northern Hull, and then a bridge across the Ottawa River just west of the rapids and then linking up to the 416 on the Ontario side.

Drove the new section yesterday. Very nice. Cannot believe how quick it will be to get to the Montreal North Shore and Laval now! Incredible. A lot of traffic on there but we were all cruising at 115+. Will get to do the full length in a few weeks; will time it.

I drove it yesterday too with mixed feeling. Nice, fast, beautiful views, little to no traffic (considering that I don't think that a lot of people knew that it was open).
However, as we've discussed previously, if you live in most parts of Ottawa and are going to Montreal, it's still quicker to take the 417. From downtown Montreal to my house in ottawa, between traffic in Montreal and getting back to my house in Ottawa, it took me 2 hours and 45 minutes to get home. I think some of us are still better off taking Highway 417 or 17.

I will still take the 417 to Montreal but the new sections of the 50 are REALLY amazing for my weekend jaunts to Tremblant!!! Between the new 50 and the upgrades on the 323 the trip is 30-45 minutes shorter than it was a few years ago.

HWY 50 is also a good option for those driving East of Montreal, for example towards Quebec City, as you can totally bypass the island of Montreal and its traffic on HWY40, by connecting from the 50 to the 15 then through Laval on the 640.

It would be even better if they start moving towards twinning it next...

If you are going from Ottawa to anywhere on Montreal Island the 50 offers no advantages except for scenery. People will continue to take the 417.

For Montreal's northern suburbs and any points east of the city like Quebec City and the Maritimes the 50 will be a good way to bypass the traffic on the island.

Although a full southern bypass of Montreal Island will be open with the completion of the 30 in about two weeks.

So going east you will be able to drive 417-40-30 (around the island) then pick up the 20 well east of the city.

Oh yeah? I didn't think A-30 was ever going to be completed!

Will it possibly take some of the truck traffic out of downtown Ottawa?

oh wow...i was unaware of the 30. this is huge for getting to jay peak, orford, bromont, sutton, sugarloaf, sunday river, etc!!

I don't know the O-D traffic patterns *anywhere* near as well as a lot of the others do on this forum (Dado and eternallymee, I'm looking in your direction! ;-) but I wouldn't expect a big impact. The intermodal, warehousing and logistics infrastructure in Montreal is really clustered around the Port, existing Rail Yards and Trudeau Airport, all of which are much more oriented towards the A20-401 and A40-417 corridors than the A50.

And in case someone is about to say that this is why we need rail-intermodal infrastructure in Ottawa, two points I've made before: anything within ~500km is within the optimum distance for intermodal trucking, so it's more efficient to move things from the Montreal area to Ottawa (and ditto from the GTA) by truck than to build an Ottawa-bound train (which takes time), and then put it on a truck here for the local short-haul movement. And of course, this local short haul truck movement would still be a truck movement through the city (and for me, a truck is a truck, and it doesn't really matter whether it's origin is Montreal, Markham or somewhere along Walkley Rd).

Warning: more Transport Geekery ahead!

Where the choice between truck and rail (vs. Seaway, for that matter) starts to get interesting is between Montreal and Toronto, where the distance is right on the borderline, and the highway congestion at each end can erase the potential time savings from loading a truck vs building a long train. (this dynamic also plays out in a smaller scale inside the railway companies, where there is a constant push and pull between taking the time to assemble a fewer number of longer trains which cost less to run and are more profitable, vs running a larger number of shorter trains which allows faster deliveries which gives more value to customers and might command higher prices).

Absolutely true. For Ottawans, the 417 still makes the most sense to MTL island. But for anyone in the Outaouais (even to MTL island), I think the 50 is our best bet now.

I have to head "past" Montreal in 2 weeks, hoping the 30 is open so I can test it out. Hitting Granby in Jan, should be open then for sure. Wonder if the 50/Hawkesbury/40/30 might be a good option? Anything to avoid having to go 'through' Montreal. That is where the 30 is great imo, it is the only option that allows access to the east of Montreal without having to touch the island. Wish they would extent the 640 to Varennes (and the 30).

The 30 is opening on "le 12 du 12 à 12 heures 12"... seriously.

OMG just in time for the end of the world!

Well, for someone whose avatar is FièreSansVoiture it might be true! :haha:

Regarding more trucks using the 50 now, I think it will be the case, at least a bit. Gatineau does have some commercial/industrial areas, and truckers might like the option of taking the 15 and 50 through to Gatineau, having to deal with only MTL traffic in lieu of MTL traffic then downtown Ottawa traffic.

Furthermore, lets not forget the Mirabel airport, which is heavily used by cargo planes and courier companies like FEDEX, UPS etc. They too will send their trucks via the 50 to Ottawa now, instead of via the 417.

End result will be a bit less truck traffic on the 417 and downtown Ottawa.

There have been a few jokes about how A-40 does a weird turn with a super wide median at the Ontario border, that it was to accommodate a customs checkpoint :). I wonder however, it there were plans for an interchange here. If the A-40 was extended another 10 kilometres with a bridge across the Ottawa River, it could connect with the A-50 at Lachute and make it more useful. It would probably really even out the difference between using the 417, or even tip the advantage towards driving the A-50 for Gatineau residents.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8210/8...aa1e381c_b.jpg

What I find interesting about this image is that there is a place called Le-Bout-du-Bois-Dansant. :)