Boulevard Saint-Joseph (Gatineau)

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Boulevard Saint-Joseph as an important commercial boulevard in the former city of Hull, Quebec (now Gatineau). It runs from Boulevard Alexandre-Tache to the boundaries of the city of Gatineau and the suburban town of Chelsea, Quebec.

1 Southern section
2 Central section
3 Northern section
4 Transportation
5 Neighbourhoods

[edit] Southern section

Also known as Quebec route 105 that travels all the way to Quebec route 117 north of Maniwaki, Quebec, this road travels through one of the busiest commercial districts of the entire city. Numerous types of businesses are located all along the road. Most of them are small independent companies by local entrepreneurs for the Association professionnelle des gens d'affaires de Hull. However, in the recent years the affluence dropped due to the development of the Plateau de la Capitale commercial district in which big-box stores were built in conjunction of the booming residential development in the area which drove away many customers from the Saint-Joseph commercial strip.

At its southern end is the Salaberry Armoury in which has a militia from the Hull regiment and a large park called "Parc des Chars de Combat". The Université du Québec en Outaouais's two campuses are also located just off the road and in the future, a possible merger of the university's two campuses will result of new buildings being built at the road's southern end at Boulevard Alexandre-Taché. The university had acquired land around the area. It is also possible that a future O-Train expansion to Gatineau will serve portions of the Saint-Joseph area as a railroad track that links to the Prince of Wales Bridge towards Ottawa and Bayview Station is located beside the Armoury's facility.

This road also has the distinction of having the province's first roundabouts as two of them were built in 2004 and 2005, one at Montcalm Street and the other Boulevard Saint-Laurent in which it will serve as a direct link to the Aylmer sector and Le Plateau when Boulevard de l'Outaouais (Quebec route 148) will be completed in 2007.

[edit] Central section

There are also two major shopping centres near Boulevard Saint-Raymond. At first there is Les Galeries de Hull, owned by Ivanhoe-Cambridge, which contains includes among its 75 stores and services, a Sears, a Marché Frais (Market Fresh), a Shopper's Drug Mart, an East Side Mario's and a large food court that contains several fast-food stores. The Village Place Cartier is another mall that contains a Zellers, an IGA, a book store, an SAQ liquor store, a Nautilus fitness center as well as a Quizno's restaurant. In the vicinity of these malls lies a Maxi superstore and a strip mall called Place Fleur de Lys which contains a video store, an M&M meat shop, a Wawanesa insurance office, a Subway and a local bar called Lounge 426. There is also a 21-story building called Place Vincent Massey which houses Environment Canada. located in the same area.

There are also some residential sections including three apartment towers called Le Blackburn, Place Versailles and Le 700 St-Joseph which all contains 16 floors.

The intersection of Boulevard Saint-Joseph and Boulevard Saint-Raymond is one of the most congested intersections in Gatineau during afternoon peak hours and also during weekends, since it's loaded with heavy traffic going to Aylmer via Boulevard Saint-Raymond and to Ottawa and Gatineau via Autoroute 5 and drivers heading to Highway 5 often block the intersection, which results lengthy delays on Saint-Joseph heading north. The traffic jam is also caused by the configuration of the junction of southbound Highway 5 with eastbound Quebec Autoroute 50 where there is only one lane of traffic to access the 50 and traffic must change lanes immediately.

[edit] Northern section

North of the junction of Quebec Autoroute 5, Boulevard Saint-Joseph is also known as Boulevard de l'Automobile due to numerous car dealerships (including all GM, Ford and most Daimler Chrysler brands) located through this stretch all the way towards Chelsea, Quebec. Retailers from Honda, Toyota, Suzuki, Subaru, Nissan, Hyundai and Nissan are also located on this road as well as an auction dealership called Mega Auction Direct. Every spring, a portion of this road is closed to traffic on a particular Sunday for a mega-sale involving the majority of the retailers. In that same area lies the Hull-Chelsea-Wakefield steam train line which is one of the most important tourist attraction in the Outaouais region.

[edit] Transportation

Many of the city's Société de transport de l'Outaouais's routes travels on that stretch of road particularly near the shopping district near Saint-Raymond and Montclair as well as near a park and ride facility at corner with Chemin Freeman.

The speed limit throughout all this stretch is 50 km/h. When it exits Gatineau it climbs to 70 km/h.