Quebec Autoroute 50

Autoroute 50 shield

Autoroute 50
Autoroute de l'Outaouais
Route information
Maintained by Transports Québec
Length: 159 km (99 mi)
Existed: 1975[1] – present
Major junctions
West end: Gatineau
 

A-5, Route 148 in Gatineau (Hull)
Route 344 in Grenville-sur-la-Rouge

A-15/TCH in Mirabel
East end: Route 117 near Mirabel
Location
Major cities: Gatineau, L'Ange-Gardien, Lachute, Mirabel
Highway system

Quebec provincial highways

← A-40A-55 →
Autoroute 50 between Fassett and Calumet

Autoroute 50 (Autoroute de l'Outaouais) is an Autoroute in western Quebec, Canada. It links the City of Gatineau and Outaouais region to the Greater Montreal area.

Until November 2012, there were two distinct sections of A-50: one section running eastward from Hull and the other westward from Mirabel. The gap in the highway was filled on November 26, 2012, and the two-lane freeway opened for traffic on the full 159 km (98.8 mi) length.[2][3]

The route provides a freeway alternative to Route 148 that does not require crossing into Ontario, unlike the main Trans-Canada Highway route (A-40 / Hwy 417) from metropolitan Montreal.

History

Oswald Parent (a Liberal MP from Hull) originally proposed construction of the A-50 in 1962. Eight years later, Quebec Premier Jean-Jacques Bertrand announced plans for construction. It was originally envisioned that the A-50 would extend over 400 kilometers from L'Isle-aux-Allumettes at the Ontario border through Saint-Jérôme and Joliette along the Route 148 and 158 corridors to Berthierville and a junction with the A-40. The primary purpose of the A-50 was to connect Ottawa and the Outaouais with Montréal–Mirabel International Airport. At the time, the Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport was not yet built and the national capital lacked highway access to an international air hub. Mirabel's rapid decline as an air hub coupled with the Quebec government's decision in the 1970s to impose a moratorium on new autoroute construction resulted in a significantly truncated route for the A-50. Plans for extending the A-50 west of Hull and east of the A-15/TCH were abandoned. The exit numbers, however, are based on that original projected length of the autoroute.

Construction was completed in the fall of 2007 on the road that connects Highway 148 west of the Aylmer and Hull sectors to the A-50 at the Boulevard des Allumettières interchange.

One short section of Route 158 around Joliette was originally signed as A-50 as well until the project was abandoned. In addition, west of the current terminus, a four-lane at-grade expressway continues as Route 148 into the Aylmer section of Gatineau; it may become part of A-50 in the future.

A-50 is a four- to six-lane freeway through Gatineau up to Buckingham, the remainder is mostly a two-lane freeway. Many overpasses are built to accommodate a fully divided, four-lane highway in the future such that only one portion of the overpass is currently used. However, there have been demands for a four-lane highway for the new segment so it can be safer. The first two segments were built with only two lanes and a 2007 multi-fatality accident occurred on highway 148 near Buckingham, a section of highway that A-50 would bypass.[4]

Unusual for a limited-access highway, the A-50 contains two railroad crossings at grade, both of the Quebec Gatineau Railway (QGRY). The first crosses the QGRY Lachute Subdivision between exits 260 and 272, at 45°39′04″N 74°13′45″W / 45.651008°N 74.229047°W, while the second crosses the QGRY St-Jerome Spur about 1 km west of exit 279, at 45°40′59″N 74°07′34″W / 45.682948°N 74.125982°W.

There is some support to rename the highway to Autoroute Maurice-Richard after historic Montreal Canadiens hockey player Maurice Richard, but the Commission de toponymie du Québec has chosen to wait until the section between Buckingham and Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours is finished before making a decision.[5]

Safety improvements

Following a series of fatal collisions in 2007, it was announced that centreline rumble strips would be installed in various no-passing zones along Autoroute 50. This will be the first installation of its kind in Quebec and serve as a pilot project.

Exit list

Note: exit numbers in parentheses are not signed, but are based on kilometre posts.

Municipality No. Intersecting roads Notes
Gatineau (133) Rue Montcalm At-grade intersection - Western terminus
134 Boulevard des Allumettières (formerly Boulevard Saint-Laurent) ( Route 148) Westbound exit and eastbound entrance only
135 Autoroute 5 (Autoroute de la Gatineau) / Ottawa / Maniwaki / Boulevard Maisonneuve (downtown Hull)
138 Rue Saint-Louis ( Route 307)
139 Boulevard Maloney ( Route 148) Eastbound exit and westbound entrance only
140 Boulevard de La Gappe
141 Boulevard de La Vérendrye Eastbound exit and westbound entrance only
145 Montée Paiement
147 Boulevard Labrosse
150 Boulevard Lorrain ( Route 366)
154 Boulevard de l'Aéroport
159 Avenue des Laurentides
165 Rue Georges Eastbound exit and westbound entrance only
166 Avenue de Buckingham ( Route 315) Transition from 4 to 2 lanes or vice versa
171 Chemin Lépine
L'Ange-Gardien 174 Chemin Doherty ( Route 309)
Lochaber - Thurso 187 Route 317
Plaisance 197 Montée Papineau
Papineauville 205 Route 321
Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours 210 Route 323
Fassett 216 Montée Fassett
Grenville-sur-la-Rouge 226 Chemin Avoca
233 Chemin Kilmar
239 Scotch Road/Chemin Scotch ( Route 344)
Brownsburg-Chatham 252 Montée Labranche
254 Route du Canton ( Route 148) Transition from 2 to 4 lanes or vice versa
Lachute 258 Avenue d'Argenteuil ( Route 327)
260 Chemin Béthanie ( Route 329) Transition from 4 to 2 lanes or vice versa
Mirabel 272 Route Arthur-Sauvé ( Route 148)
279 Chemin St-Simon
(281) Rue Helen-Bristol At-grade intersection
(283) Rue Louis-Bisson At-grade intersection
285 Mirabel International Airport Transition from 2 to 4 lanes or vice versa
288 Boulevard Henri-Fabre
292 Autoroute 15/Trans-Canada Highway (Autoroute des Laurentides)
(293) Boulevard Curé-Labelle ( Route 117) At-grade intersection - Eastern terminus

References

  1. ↑ "Répertoire des autoroutes du Québec" (in French). Transports Québec. Retrieved 2008-02-23.
  2. ↑ "Ouverture du dernier tronçon de l'autoroute 50 | Ottawa–Gatineau" (in French). Radio-Canada. 2012-11-26. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
  3. ↑ "L'autoroute 50 est bel et bien une autoroute, soutient le MTQ | Ottawa–Gatineau" (in French). Radio-Canada. 2012-11-27. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
  4. ↑ "Gatineau man, 61, dies in 14-vehicle crash". CBC News. 2007-03-15.
  5. ↑ Communiqué: L'Autoroute 50 - Commission de toponymie, retrieved September 3, 2007

Resources

Route map: Bing

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Quebec Autoroute 50.