Quebec Autoroute 10

Autoroute 10
Autoroute Bonaventure, Autoroute des Cantons-de-l'Est
Route information
Maintained by Transports Québec
Length:	145.1 km[1][2] (90.2 mi)
Existed:	1962[1] – present
Major junctions
West end:	A-720 in Montreal
	A-15 / A-20 / A-30 in Brossard A-35 near Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu
East end:	A-55 / A-610 in Sherbrooke
Location
Major cities:	Montreal, Brossard, Granby, Magog, Sherbrooke
Highway system
Quebec provincial highways ← A-5 A-13 →

Autoroute 10 (A-10) is an Autoroute of Quebec in Canada that links greater Montreal to key population centres in Montérégie and Estrie, including Brossard, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Granby, and Sherbrooke.

The A-10 also provides access to popular winter resorts at Bromont, Owl's Head, Mont Sutton and Mont Orford. Motorists travelling on the A-10 can see eight of nine Monteregian Hills: Mount Royal, Mont Saint-Bruno, Mont Saint-Hilaire, Mont Saint-Grégoire, Mont Rougemont, Mont Yamaska, Mont Shefford and Mont Brome. (The ninth, Mont Mégantic is located beyond the eastern terminus of the autoroute.

At 147 km (91 mi) long, the A-10 is the fourth longest autoroute in Quebec.

Description

The A-10 carries the name Autoroute Bonaventure (Bonaventure Expressway) from its start in Montreal's city centre to the Champlain Bridge. From there until its terminus in Sherbrooke, the A-10 is called the Autoroute des Cantons-de-l'Est (Eastern Townships Expressway), a reference to the historic name given to the region east of Montreal and north of the U.S. border.

Autoroute Bonaventure

The A-10 begins in Downtown Montreal as an extension of University Street near Place Bonaventure. Two underground ramps provide an interchange with the A-720. At km 1, the A-10 crosses the Lachine Canal, then travels along the St. Lawrence River to an interchange with the A-15 and A-20. This interchange is partially on the Island of Montreal and partially on Nuns' Island. At km 2, it crosses (but does not provide access to) Route 112 at the north end of Victoria Bridge. The A-10 has three lanes in each direction on the majority of its length and the speed limit is 70 km/h. The A-10 is multiplexed with the A-15 and A-20 across the Champlain Bridge. All three autoroutes diverge soon after reaching the southern edge of the bridge.

The A-10 serves as an important link for commuters travelling to downtown Montreal from suburban South Shore communities via the Champlain Bridge. It also provides access to the Montreal Technoparc and the Concordia Bridge. The A-10 in Montreal is jointly owned by the city of Montreal, the Société Les Ponts Jacques Cartier, and Federal Bridge Corporation (an agency of the Government of Canada).

Autoroute des Cantons de l'Est

At km 8, the A-10 crosses Taschereau Boulevard. Bus lanes run in both directions along the median for four kilometers between the southern end of the Champlain Bridge and Milan Boulevard. Crossing Brossard, the A-10 runs along the northern edge of the Quartier DIX30 shopping complex before reaching interchanges with the A-30 at km 11 and the A-35 at km 22. The A-10 crosses the Richelieu River at km 28 and enters a rich agricultural region.

Between Bromont (km 74) and Magog (km 121) the A-10 passes through a mountainous region, close to two of Quebec's major ski centres (Mont Orford and Mont Brome). Near the northern end of Lake Memphremagog, the A-10 reaches an interchange with the A-55 at km 121. The A-10 continues east as a concurrency with A-55. Between km 123 and 128, Route 112 functions as a frontage road.

A-10 and A-55 bypass the city of Sherbrooke to the east and north, reaching interchanges with spur routes A-410 at km 140 and A-610 at km 143. The A-10 reaches its terminus at the junction with A-610, while A-55 continues north to Drummondville.

The portion east of Autoroute 55 (linking that autoroute with Route 112) was renumbered as Autoroute 610 on September 29, 2006.

History

The 116 km (72 mi) long Autoroute de l'Est (Eastern Expressway) was opened to traffic in December 1964. Extending from the southern end of the Champlain Bridge to Magog, the highway replaced the old Quebec Route 1 (now Route 112) as the main road link between these two points. An official opening for the highway came one year later, in 1965. The A-10 was the second autoroute (after the Laurentian Autoroute outside Montreal to be commissioned. Both were opened as toll highways by a Quebec government agency. The A-10 featured five toll stations (at current km 22, km 37, km 68, km 90, and km 115). Motorists were charged $1.50 to make the entire trip.

The Autoroute Bonaventure through Montreal opened in 1967 to link approach roads to Expo 67 with the Champlain Bridge.

The Autoroute des Cantons de l'Est was the first autoroute in Quebec to use exit numbers based on distance instead of in sequential order, as had previously been the case. As Canada had not yet adopted the Metric system, exit numbers referenced the distance in miles from the southern end of the Champlain Bridge.

The A-10 did not originally have a route number. Instead, route marker signs featured a red triangular shield featuring the name of the route. Unusually, the directional signs were also originally red. Later, blue shields and signs replaced the red versions.

In 1985, the toll system was abolished and use of the triangular shields were discontinued. Blue directional signs have gradually been converted to standard green signs used elsewhere in North America. In 2013, motorists could still see blue signs at entrances to, and exits of, the autoroute.

Between 1988 and 2006, A-10 departed its multiplex with A-55 at km 143 and continued eastward for eleven kilometers to a final terminus with Route 112. In October 2006, this section of A-10 was renumbered as A-610.

Future

The Autoroute Bonaventure will be completely reconfigured in the coming years. The Société du Havre de Montréal (SHM) has proposed transforming the autoroute into an urban thoroughfare as part of a broader project to redevelop Montreal's harbourfront.^[3] The city of Montreal announced in January 2013 that it would take over the SHM's responsibilities, citing concerns over transparency.^[4]

A current proposal to build the East-West Highway across central and northern Maine calls for the A-10 to be extended to the U.S. border at Coburn Gore where it would meet the new highway. Doing so would create a new and more direct limited-access highway link between Maine, the Maritime Provinces, and Quebec.

Exit list from west to east

Municipality	No.		Destinations	Notes
	Old
Montreal			Ville-Marie Expressway east University Street north ; Rue Notre-Dame	westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		1	Wellington Street	westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		2	Port de Montréal; Avenue Pierre-Dupuy; Rue Carrie-Derick Street (Technoparc)
		3	Rue Carrie-Derick Street; (Montreal Technoparc)	eastbound exit and entrance
		4	Autoroute 15 north; Autoroute 20 west - Decarie Expressway; Saint-Jérôme; Toronto	A-15 and A-20 join eastbound and leave westbound; A-10 west takes exit 58 from A-15/A-20
		5 57	Île des Sœurs
Champlain Bridge St. Lawrence River
Brossard		53 6	Autoroute 15 south to Interstate 87; Autoroute 20 east; Route 132 - Longueuil; La Prairie; New York; Quebec City	A-15 and A-20 join westbound and leave eastbound
	1	8	Route 134 - Boulevard Taschereau (Taschereau Interchange); Longueuil; La Prairie
		9	Boulevard Milan	Eastbound only
		11	Autoroute 30 to Autoroute 20; to Sorel-Tracy; Quebec City; Châteauguay
Carignan Chambly	9	22	Autoroute 35 South to Interstate 89 - Chambly; Saint-Luc; Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu
Richelieu	13	29	Route 133 - Iberville; Richelieu
Marieville	18	37	Route 227 - Sainte-Marie-de-Monnoir; Marieville; Mont-Saint-Grégoire; Sainte-Angèle-de-Monnoir
Sainte-Brigide-d'Iberville	25	48	Route 233 - Saint-Césaire; Rougemont; Farnham; Sainte-Brigide-d'Iberville
Ange-Gardien	30	55	Route 235 - Saint-Paul-d'Abbotsford; Ange-Gardien; Farnham
Saint-Alphonse	37	68	Route 139 - Boulevard David-Bouchard; Cowansville; Sutton; Granby
Granby Bromont	41	74	Route Pierre-Laporte - Bromont; Cowansville; Granby
Bromont	44	78	Boulevard Bromont - Bromont
Shefford Waterloo		88	Boulevard Horizon - Waterloo
	52	90	Route 243 - Waterloo; Valcourt; Brome Lake
Saint-Étienne-de-Bolton	58	100	Stukely-Sud; Saint-Étienne-de-Bolton	eastbound exit and westbound entrance
Eastman	61	106	Route 245 - Eastman; Mansonville; Stukely-Sud
Magog	67	115	Route 112 - Magog; Saint-Benoît-du-Lac; Mont Orford	split into 115-S (Route 112) and 115-N (Mont Orford) eastbound
	?	118	Route 141 - Orford; Magog
	71	121	Autoroute 55 south to Interstate 91 - Coaticook; Stanstead; Magog; Vermont	A-55 joins eastbound and leaves westbound
Magog Sherbrooke	72 36	123	Route 112 to Route 249 - Saint-Denis-de-Brompton; Omerville; Magog
Sherbrooke			Route 112 west to Autoroute 10 west; to Autoroute 55 south - Magog; Montreal	eastbound exit and westbound entrance (U-turn ramp)
	41	128	Route 112 - Boulevard Bourque; Deauville; Rock Forest; Sherbrooke
	46	133	Rock Forest; Saint-Élie-d'Orford
	50	137	Route 220 - Boulevard Industriel; Saint-Élie-d'Orford
	54	140	Autoroute 410 east - Sherbrooke
	55	141	Chemin Saint-Joseph
		143	Autoroute 610 east - Fleurimont, East Angus, Lac-Mégantic Autoroute 55 north

References

External links

Route map: Bing

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Quebec Autoroute 10.

• A-10 at Exitlists.com
• A-10 at Quebec Autoroutes
• Steve Anderson's MontrealRoads.com: Bonaventure Autoroute (A-10)
• Steve Anderson's MontrealRoads.com: Eastern Townships Autoroute (A-10)
• Transports Quebec Map (French)