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Autoroute (Quebec)



         


Autoroute is a French word meaning, literally, a motor road, and corresponding to the words "motorway" or "freeway" in English. It is the name used in the francophone world for highways constructed exclusively for motor traffic.

The Autoroute system in the province of Quebec, Canada, is a network of freeways which operate under the same principle of controlled-access as the Interstate freeway system in the United States or the 400-Series Highways in neighbouring Ontario. The Autoroutes are the backbone of Quebec's highway system, which spans more than 20,000 km of roads. The speed limit on Quebec's Autoroutes is 100 km/h in rural areas and 70 km/h in urban areas.

Autoroutes are identified by blue and red shields, with the red header image representing a highway overpass. Quebec's Autoroutes are numbered from 1-99 in the case of principal routes, and from 400-999 in the case of collector routes or deviation routes designed such that truck traffic can by-pass urban areas. In the case of deviation routes, the hundreds prefix is even-numbered (e.g., 400, 600), whereas collector routes have odd-numbered prefixes (e.g., 500, 700, 900). For example, A-40 is an Autoroute, the A-640 is a deviation route, and the A-740 is a collector route linking the A-40 to other Autoroutes.

Odd-numbered Autoroutes (e.g., A-15) generally run perpendicular to the Saint Lawrence River, while the even-numbered ones (e.g., A-20, A-40) generally run parallel to it. In addition, each Autoroute has a unique name in addition to its numerical designation and it is commonplace for Autoroutes to be identified using either method (e.g., the Décarie, the 15).

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History of Quebec's Autoroutes


Examples of Autoroute marker shields.

Quebec's first Autoroute was the Laurentian Autoroute (Autoroute des Laurentides), which opened in 1959 as a toll road. This initative to bring freeways into Quebec was started by Maurice Duplessis, whose government saw the construction of the Laurentian Autoroute (A-15) from Montréal to Saint-Jérôme and the first section of the Boulevard Métropolitain (A-40), which opened in 1960.

It was the Quebec Liberal government of the 1960s that saw the construction of further Autoroutes, especially in light of the fact that many visitors would be flocking to Montréal by car for Expo 67. The Décarie (A-15) and the Lafontaine Tunnel were constructed for that very reason. The Eastern Townships Autoroute (Autoroute des Cantons-de-l'Est) opened in 1964, while the A-55 between Magog and Rock Island opened in 1967. A-40 was extended out to Berthierville, and later to Trois-Rivières in the 1970s.

The 1970s also saw the completion of the Pierre-Laporte Bridge in Québec City, connecting the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River to the north. In addition to this, the A-73 was extended to Beauce, the A-20 was extended to Rivière-du-Loup, and the Chomedey Autoroute (A-13) and the A-440 were constructed in Laval. During the 1970s, the Parti Québécois came to power, whose platform mandated an expansion of public transportation over the construction of more Autoroutes. Existing Autoroutes were extended (e.g., the A-40 was extended from Trois-Rivières to Quebec City) but no new Autoroutes were built.

Nearly all of Quebec's Autoroutes were toll roads until the mid-1980s, when the toll barriers were removed and the province stopped collecting tolls from vehicles using the Autoroutes.

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List of Autoroutes in Quebec

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Autoroute 5

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Autoroute 13

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Autoroute 15

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Autoroute 20

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Autoroute 30

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Autoroute 35

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Autoroute 50

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Autoroute 70

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Autoroute 440

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Autoroute 520

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Autoroute 573

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Autoroute 640

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Autoroute 740

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Autoroute 955

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See also






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