Autoroute Guy-Lafleur (A50)

[Kitchissippi]

Originally Posted by Acajack

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

C'est peut-être un endroit où on tchèque les pitounes

[Dado]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

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 .

Wouldn't that be for a toll plaza?

It is my understanding that all of Quebec's autoroutes have been designed for the possibility of adding road tolling infrastructure. With changes in technology, that can be done a lot differently than it would in the past, so that may not apply any longer.

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.

I always kind of suspected that any such link to Mirabel would start in Ontario where Hwy 417 takes its 'sharp' turn to the east-south-east at old Hwy 17 just east of Hawkesbury. The Ottawa River is fairly narrow there, after all. In fact, I thought that was the entire reason for the otherwise apparently bizarre routing of Hwy 417 through eastern Ontario - to make it easier to serve Mirabel.

If the primary purpose of Hwy 417 was to go to Montréal, a better route would have been to avoid the northeastward turn past Casselman and instead continue roughly eastwards, bypassing Alexandria to the north and then once across the border paralleling the CPR mainline into Vaudreil-Dorion and A40 (which of course would mean that the A40 would not head to Rigaud anymore but rather meet Hwy 417 east of Alexandria). At the very least turn east to the southeast of Vankleek Hill and head on an alignment south of St. Eugène for the A40 at Rigaud. That entire detour north to the Ottawa River and old Hwy 17 is rather pointless unless the purpose was to go to Mirabel.

[wingman]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

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.

Interesting that you brought that up. There was indeed a plan to connect the A640 to the A40, but it was further down the line near Exit 26.

I find it interesting that the A40 was in place before the 417 (which was built to connect the existing autoroute)... so to me that means the A40 would have been built this way on purpose. Toll station sounds feasible. Though I do wish that new highway you show here was in place. That would be killer!

As I mentioned above:

Originally Posted by http://www.montrealroads.com

The original A-640 plans called for a new bridge connecting Oka with A-40 (near EXIT 26) in Dorion, where connections nearby would provide access to A-540 and A-20. The autoroute's right-of-way would have gone through a provincial park and possibly Indian lands. Proposals to extend A-640 across Lac des Deux-Montagnes have been floated over the years, particularly amid growing congestion on A-40. Given the challenges of building highways through parkland in North America, and after the 1990 standoff at Oka over a proposed golf course that shut down the Mercier Bridge (QC 138), a westerly extension of A-640 appears unlikely.

[waterloowarrior]

There was also a plan for an A-9 with a similar route to Kitchissippi's map
http://www.montrealroads.com/roads/A-9/


The Montreal-Pointe Fortune route seems to have been finished in the mid-1960s
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...6969%2C3603619

There was a plan to have a bridge near Oka to Mirabel that wingman mentioned, however that seems unlikely now given what happened in the 90s.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...1222%2C6395638

It used to be four lanes on the Quebec side, while the Ontario side was just 2 lanes http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...5209%2C1578618 (scroll left to see image of the border)

It dips down south so much because it's closer to Cornwall (for Cornwall/Ottawa traffic) and it saved money over other routes.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...=738%2C2697987

[wingman]

Well damn ww, nice info.

Love the old newspaper articles, and I do not know how I have never seen the A-9 info on that site

"Evidence for the proposed A-9 can be found on A-40 just east of EXIT 1, where the eastbound and westbound roadways diverge for several hundred meters to accommodate ramps for a potential "directional-Y" interchange within the median. This section of A-40 was built in the mid-1960s, when long-range construction plans for A-9 may have been considered."

I guess that is put to bed!

[waterloowarrior]

Media Advisory for the official opening of Highway 50
GATINEAU, QC, Dec. 13, 2012 /CNW/ - The Honourable Denis Lebel, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities and Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, Mr. Sylvain Gaudreault, Quebec Minister of Transport and Minister of Municipal Affairs, Regions and Land Occupancy, and Mr. Stéphane Bergeron, Minister of Public Security and Minister responsible for the Outaouais region, will mark the official opening of Highway 50, located between Thurso and Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours (Montebello).

Date: December 17, 2012

Time: 2:00 p.m.

Location:


Parc Oméga
La Maison du Parc
399, Route 323 North
Montebello (Québec)
SOURCE: Government of Canada

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

Media Advisory for the official opening of Highway 50
GATINEAU, QC, Dec. 13, 2012 /CNW/ - The Honourable Denis Lebel, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities and Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, Mr. Sylvain Gaudreault, Quebec Minister of Transport and Minister of Municipal Affairs, Regions and Land Occupancy, and Mr. Stéphane Bergeron, Minister of Public Security and Minister responsible for the Outaouais region, will mark the official opening of Highway 50, located between Thurso and Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours (Montebello).

Date: December 17, 2012

Time: 2:00 p.m.

Location:


Parc Oméga
La Maison du Parc
399, Route 323 North
Montebello (Québec)
SOURCE: Government of Canada

Wait, the Feds? Did they even invest any money in this project? Wasn’t there lack of support the reason we ended up with a 2 lane highway?

[Chris-R]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Wait, the Feds? Did they even invest any money in this project? Wasn’t there lack of support the reason we ended up with a 2 lane highway?

$38,000,000 / $273,500,000

Poking around Google, it seems that Federal funding for A50 goes back a long time.

[harls]

Back in the day this was an important link to Mirabel. I guess the feds had to fulfill some obligation.

[waterloowarrior]

A brand-new autoroute that isn’t worthy of the name

BY ERIC BENDER, THE GAZETTE AUGUST 12, 2013
http://www.montrealgazette.com/opini...027/story.html

MONTREAL — Recently my wife and I received an invitation from some old friends who live in Gatineau to spend a summer weekend with them. It sounded like a great idea that would also afford us a first opportunity to drive on the final section to be completed of Quebec’s Highway 50 (the Autoroute de l’Outaouais), which opened to traffic quite recently.

This new portion of Highway 50 connects Grenville (just across the Ottawa River from Hawkesbury, Ont.) with an already-completed four-lane section of the highway at Buckingham, a distance of about 75 kilometres. As an alternative to Highway 417 on the Ontario side of the border, it permits drivers heading to the Gatineau area from Montreal to bypass altogether the often very congested road network through Ottawa.

First, the good news: the new section presents some beautiful vistas of the Ottawa Valley, of bucolic farms and sleepy villages nestled in the river valley below the highway, which has been built through rolling hill country.

However, all the rest of the news is bad. The traveller has virtually no opportunity to enjoy these perspectives because, shockingly, the new stretch of Highway 50 has been constructed as a two-lane, undivided, white-knuckle nightmare for its entire length. Oncoming traffic — including large transport trucks and buses — whistles by at a high speed, making the drive anything but the pleasant, relatively safe experience of other Quebec autoroutes.

Clearly Transport Quebec has recognized the inherent danger of a two-lane autoroute, as it has constructed a so-called rumble strip between the two lanes. Perhaps that’s better than nothing as a safety measure, but not much.

I get it that Quebec is and has been for some time in a financial crisis, but it is unacceptable in the 21st century to be opening new autoroutes that are clearly inferior to those built in the 1960s and ’70s. As a taxpayer, I would rather no new expressways were built than those offering such an obvious compromise on safety and security. On any Quebec highway labelled an “autoroute” one would expect certain minimum standards to be observed. That clearly has not been the case here.

We spent a very enjoyable weekend with our friends in Gatineau. But perhaps it is needless to add that we returned home to Montreal on the Ontario side of the Ottawa River — on a much less stressful, properly constructed divided highway.

Eric Bender is a retired college administrator and school-board commissioner who lives in Kirkland.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

A brand-new autoroute that isn’t worthy of the name

BY ERIC BENDER, THE GAZETTE AUGUST 12, 2013
http://www.montrealgazette.com/opini...027/story.html

MONTREAL — Recently my wife and I received an invitation from some old friends who live in Gatineau to spend a summer weekend with them. It sounded like a great idea that would also afford us a first opportunity to drive on the final section to be completed of Quebec’s Highway 50 (the Autoroute de l’Outaouais), which opened to traffic quite recently.

This new portion of Highway 50 connects Grenville (just across the Ottawa River from Hawkesbury, Ont.) with an already-completed four-lane section of the highway at Buckingham, a distance of about 75 kilometres. As an alternative to Highway 417 on the Ontario side of the border, it permits drivers heading to the Gatineau area from Montreal to bypass altogether the often very congested road network through Ottawa.

First, the good news: the new section presents some beautiful vistas of the Ottawa Valley, of bucolic farms and sleepy villages nestled in the river valley below the highway, which has been built through rolling hill country.

However, all the rest of the news is bad. The traveller has virtually no opportunity to enjoy these perspectives because, shockingly, the new stretch of Highway 50 has been constructed as a two-lane, undivided, white-knuckle nightmare for its entire length. Oncoming traffic — including large transport trucks and buses — whistles by at a high speed, making the drive anything but the pleasant, relatively safe experience of other Quebec autoroutes.

Clearly Transport Quebec has recognized the inherent danger of a two-lane autoroute, as it has constructed a so-called rumble strip between the two lanes. Perhaps that’s better than nothing as a safety measure, but not much.

I get it that Quebec is and has been for some time in a financial crisis, but it is unacceptable in the 21st century to be opening new autoroutes that are clearly inferior to those built in the 1960s and ’70s. As a taxpayer, I would rather no new expressways were built than those offering such an obvious compromise on safety and security. On any Quebec highway labelled an “autoroute” one would expect certain minimum standards to be observed. That clearly has not been the case here.

We spent a very enjoyable weekend with our friends in Gatineau. But perhaps it is needless to add that we returned home to Montreal on the Ontario side of the Ottawa River — on a much less stressful, properly constructed divided highway.

Eric Bender is a retired college administrator and school-board commissioner who lives in Kirkland.

Drama queen!

[Acajack]

How many hundred words to tell us he'd never seen a super-2 before and didn't like it. And worthy of publication to boot!

[Ottawa superman]

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

A brand-new autoroute that isn’t worthy of the name

BY ERIC BENDER, THE GAZETTE AUGUST 12, 2013
http://www.montrealgazette.com/opini...027/story.html

MONTREAL — Recently my wife and I received an invitation from some old friends who live in Gatineau to spend a summer weekend with them. It sounded like a great idea that would also afford us a first opportunity to drive on the final section to be completed of Quebec’s Highway 50 (the Autoroute de l’Outaouais), which opened to traffic quite recently.

This new portion of Highway 50 connects Grenville (just across the Ottawa River from Hawkesbury, Ont.) with an already-completed four-lane section of the highway at Buckingham, a distance of about 75 kilometres. As an alternative to Highway 417 on the Ontario side of the border, it permits drivers heading to the Gatineau area from Montreal to bypass altogether the often very congested road network through Ottawa.

First, the good news: the new section presents some beautiful vistas of the Ottawa Valley, of bucolic farms and sleepy villages nestled in the river valley below the highway, which has been built through rolling hill country.

However, all the rest of the news is bad. The traveller has virtually no opportunity to enjoy these perspectives because, shockingly, the new stretch of Highway 50 has been constructed as a two-lane, undivided, white-knuckle nightmare for its entire length. Oncoming traffic — including large transport trucks and buses — whistles by at a high speed, making the drive anything but the pleasant, relatively safe experience of other Quebec autoroutes.

Clearly Transport Quebec has recognized the inherent danger of a two-lane autoroute, as it has constructed a so-called rumble strip between the two lanes. Perhaps that’s better than nothing as a safety measure, but not much.

I get it that Quebec is and has been for some time in a financial crisis, but it is unacceptable in the 21st century to be opening new autoroutes that are clearly inferior to those built in the 1960s and ’70s. As a taxpayer, I would rather no new expressways were built than those offering such an obvious compromise on safety and security. On any Quebec highway labelled an “autoroute” one would expect certain minimum standards to be observed. That clearly has not been the case here.

We spent a very enjoyable weekend with our friends in Gatineau. But perhaps it is needless to add that we returned home to Montreal on the Ontario side of the Ottawa River — on a much less stressful, properly constructed divided highway.

Eric Bender is a retired college administrator and school-board commissioner who lives in Kirkland.

First off, I have to give credit to the Charest Government to actually building the highway. After being cancelled by Levesque (whom ironically, didn't mind sending trucks through Ontario). Unfortunately, during the 60’s Quebec was more proactive than Ontario in highway widening (widened highway 40 before widened 17 now 417). Regardless, This is sorely needed for Gatineau and to get trucks of Macdonald Cartier Bridge. On the other hand, Quebec highway network is rather overbuild in some areas (for example, two bypass for Sherbrooke, a city smaller than Gatineau and four lane highway 175 to Saguenay, another smaller city than Gatineau, which by the way, is the province forth largest city).

On other subject, Quebec seems to think the city as a suburb of Ottawa, which is ironic since when talks about Gatineau considers joining Ontario, the provincial government gets all defensive. Beside, I am completly baffled that Sherbrooke got a medical school before Gatineau.

Back to highway 50, the at grade crossing for the railway is completly unacceptable. To the government credit, railway are federal regulated but still perhaps the provincial government could have reached an agreement with the railroad company?

[eternallyme]

There are several other 2-lane autoroutes in Quebec (parts of 55, far eastern part of 20, southern part of 73), but there is no reason for them to be built that way. Indeed they become dangerous with traffic moving 110 km/h or faster with head-on collisions possible and the traffic volumes they carry.

[Buggys]

Hwy 7 in Ontario is like this for most of the way (1 lane per direction), and overtaking is supposed to happen on the opposite lane. Even though the speed limit is ~80, most people drive over 100. It's still a nice scenic drive though.

[Ottawa superman]

Originally Posted by eternallyme

There are several other 2-lane autoroutes in Quebec (parts of 55, far eastern part of 20, southern part of 73), but there is no reason for them to be built that way. Indeed they become dangerous with traffic moving 110 km/h or faster with head-on collisions possible and the traffic volumes they carry.

That is correct but the two lane segments are after passing the major cities. Highway 20 becomes a two lane freeway after major cities like Levis and Riviere du Loup. Highway 73 is a freeway through Quebec city. I am not against two lane roads, Highway 148 to Aylmer and Shawville is two lane and I don't think it needs a freeway upgrade.

Originally Posted by Buggys

Hwy 7 in Ontario is like this for most of the way (1 lane per direction), and overtaking is supposed to happen on the opposite lane. Even though the speed limit is ~80, most people drive over 100. It's still a nice scenic drive though.

Your point is true, but regardless, most Ottawa to Toronto traffic diverted away from Highway 7 with opening of Highway 416. Also, even Peterborough has a four lane freeway to Toronto a city much smaller than Gatineau.

[Acajack]

I would have preferred a four-lane divided autoroute for sure but as super-2s go the A50 is actually a pretty decent one. And they are found all over the world - not just in Quebec BTW.

[J.OT13]

Québec will always underfund Gatineau because they assume Ottawa will pick up the slack. Of course Ontario only hands over enough money to Ottawa to support Ottawa therefore, the metro Ottawa-Gatineau area will always be underfunded unless we become our own province.

Anyway, back to the issue at hand. I'm puzzled as to how Québecers (souverenists mostly) can bash Charest for taking so long to build the highway when he built the majority of the damn thing in 10 years when it has been in the plans for the last 40+ years.

My two cents on my experience on that highway; I've used the new highway between Ottawa and the Montebello exit several times since its opening and although 4 lanes would have been great, I believe that the two lanes with passing lanes every once in a while works just fine. You just need a little patience. Also, it is one damn scenic route to Montreal compared to the 417!

[waterloowarrior]

I agree with the letter writers points on a couple issues:

-Autoroutes should have a consistent standard, especially in the case of new builds. If not built up to Autoroute standards it should just have a provincial route number with "future A-50" signage. New York does this for State Route 17 by giving it a dual "Future I-86" designation and removing the regular Route number as each section is upgraded to Interstate standards.

-If funding is an issue I'd rather see at-grade intersections and dual carriages or at least medians than building Super 2s. Head on collisions are the big danger on these roads. IMO grade separating two lane roads without medians just increases the speeds, encourages risky passing and makes them more dangerous. Building 2+1 roads (alternating lanes with medians) and gradually grade separating intersections seems like a much better option.

[J.OT13]

They should have kept a grassy median all along the route for future expansion and prevent illegal passing that may cause head on collisions. I have no problem with it being called Highway 50; if the limit is 100km/h and it is fully grade separated, it's a highway.