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Old Posted May 30, 2008, 5:44 PM
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Acajack Acajack is offline
Unapologetic Occidental
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Province 2, Canadian Empire
Posts: 67,773
Québec

Although officially part of the Trans-Canada, Route 117 down from Abitibi to the Laurentians, and then turning into Autoroute 15 about an hour north of Montreal, is not widely considered to be part of the Trans-Canada here. Also, note that Autoroute 15 is twinned from the U.S. border south of Montreal - where it joins up with Interstate 87 to New York City - through the city of Montreal and then north into the Laurentians up to Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts. The road then becomes Route 117, and is actually divided (but not limited access) until a bit past the turnoff for the Mont-Tremblant ski resort. After that, the 117 is a two-lane highway for several hundred km to the Ontario border west of Rouyn-Noranda.

But like I said, no one in Quebec considers this section to be part of the TCH. In fact, a lot of people are probably not even aware of it – although it is signed as the TCH.

The road commonly referred to as the Transcanadienne in Quebec is:

Autoroute 40 from the end of the 417 from Ottawa at the Ontario border, across Montreal Island to a short bit on Autoroute 25 (to the tunnel) across the St. Lawrence to link up with Autoroute 20.

The TCH then follows the 20 all the way to Rivière-du-Loup. The 40-25-20 segment, which is approximately 750 km, is all twinned expressway. Has been for ages.

Then, at Rivière-du-Loup is a 100-km segment to Edmundston, NB that is currently mainly comprised of Route 185, a two-lane highway with passing lanes and lots of accidents. The 185 is being upgraded to Autoroute 85 status but as far as I know there is no fixed calendar for doing the work. Currently, there are a few km of “autoroute” open south of Rivière-du-Loup to the town of Saint-Antonin. There are also completed “autoroute” sections through the main towns along the way like Cabano, Notre-Dame-du-Lac and Dégelis. I drove there last summer and some segments outside the towns were under construction, but I wouldn’t say that the entire route is under construction at this time.

Once Autoroute 85 is completed, there will be a divided highway from all of the main cities of southern Ontario and Quebec straight through to Halifax.
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