Quebec Autoroute 15: Difference between revisions
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==1987 flash flood== |
==1987 flash flood== |
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On July 14, 1987, a sudden torrential downpour caused by an HP [[supercell]] thunderstorm dumped over 100 millimetres (4 inches) of rain in just over one hour across the city. The Décarie Expressway, which is below-grade, was heavily flooded and became a river. At some locations, the water reached a maximum of 3.6 metres in depth on the roadway. Over 300 vehicles were abandoned when they were submerged. Two people were killed by the storm <ref>[http://www.ec.gc.ca/water/fr/manage/floodgen/f_que.htm]</ref> |
On July 14, 1987, a sudden torrential downpour caused by an HP [[supercell]] thunderstorm dumped over 100 millimetres (4 inches) of rain in just over one hour across the city. The Décarie Expressway, which is below-grade, was heavily flooded and became a river. At some locations, the water reached a maximum of 3.6 metres in depth on the roadway. Over 300 vehicles were abandoned when they were submerged. Two people were killed by the storm <ref>[http://www.ec.gc.ca/water/fr/manage/floodgen/f_que.htm]</ref>. One 80-year-old man on the Expressway drowned and another one was killed by [[electrical wires]]. |
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On July 5, 2005, another torrential downpour flooded portions of the Expressway after several manhole covers blew over. <ref>[http://www2.canoe.com/infos/quebeccanada/archives/2005/07/20050707-085407.html]</ref> |
On July 5, 2005, another torrential downpour flooded portions of the Expressway after several manhole covers blew over. <ref>[http://www2.canoe.com/infos/quebeccanada/archives/2005/07/20050707-085407.html]</ref> |
Revision as of 15:47, 12 September 2010
- Autoroute Décarie, Décarie Autoroute, Décarie Expressway, Quebec Route 9 and Decarie Boulevard redirect here.
Autoroute Décarie, Autoroute des Laurentides | ||||
![]() | ||||
Route information | ||||
Maintained by Transports Québec | ||||
Length | 164 km[1][2] (102 mi) | |||
Existed | 1958 [2][3]–present | |||
Major junctions | ||||
South end | ![]() ![]() | |||
Lua error in Module:Jct at line 204: attempt to concatenate local 'link' (a nil value). in Candiac ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | ||||
North end | ![]() ![]() ![]() | |||
Location | ||||
Country | Canada | |||
Province | Quebec | |||
Major cities | Candiac, La Prairie, Brossard, Montreal, Laval, Boisbriand, Blainville, Saint-Jérôme, Saint-Sauveur, Sainte-Adèle, Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts | |||
Highway system | ||||
|
Autoroute 15 (also called the Décarie Expressway (English) or Autoroute Décarie (French) between the Turcot and Décarie Interchanges in Montreal and the Laurentian Autoroute (English) Autoroute des Laurentides (French) north of Autoroute 40) is a highway in western Quebec, Canada. It is currently the only constructed north-south autoroute to go out of Montreal on both sides (until a new bridge is built to connect both ends of A-25). A-15 begins at the end of Interstate 87 at the United States border at Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle to Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts with an eventual continuation beyond Mont-Tremblant. The total length of A-15 is currently 164 km (101.9 mi), including a short concurrency (4 km (2.5 mi)*) with Autoroute 40 (Boulevard/Autoroute Métropolitan) that connects the two main sections. This is one of the few autoroutes in Quebec that does not have any spinoff highways.
Road description
Southern section
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dd/Montreal_autoroute.jpg/250px-Montreal_autoroute.jpg)
The southern section of A-15 connects the south shore suburbs of Montreal and is also the primary trade corridor route between Montreal & New York City linking Quebec Autoroute 15 to Interstate 87 at the Canada-United States border. This was the former Route 9, and connected with US 9 on the western shore of Lake Champlain. In Brossard, it joins up with A-10 and A-20 across the Champlain Bridge into Montreal. The A-10 splits off almost immediately after crossing the bridge to head into downtown Montreal at the Bonaventure Expressway and the A-20 splits off shortly after at the Turcot Interchange (échangeur Turcot), leaving the A-15 to continue northward as Autoroute Décarie until the Décarie Interchange (échangeur Décarie) with the A-40 at the point where it turns from the Trans-Canada into the Metropolitan Expressway.
The route is also connected to Autoroute 30 in Candiac which will be completed to Autoroute 20 in 2009 providing a quicker access to the south shore of Montreal, to southern communities located alongside Autoroute 15 and to the US-Canadian border in Lacolle. It will also give a quicker access from there to areas west of Montreal and also Ottawa and Gatineau.
Autoroute Décarie
- Autoroute Décarie, Décarie Autoroute, Décarie Expressway, Quebec Route 9 and Décarie Boulevard redirect here.
The Autoroute Décarie is a sunken highway between the northbound and southbound lanes of Décarie Boulevard (hence the name); from boulevard Métropolitain at its northern end to Monkland Avenue and the Villa Maria Metro station at its southern end. It was built on a wide expanse of vacant land, donated to the City by the Décarie estate on the condition that only a streetcar line be established. The decommissioning of the streetcar system in 1959 left the right-of-way as an obvious choice for a highway, and so the Décarie Autoroute was dug there. South of Queen Mary Road, however, were a significant number of houses which were demolished. In order to avoid demolishing the Notre-Dame-de-Grâces church, the highway makes a slight westerly jog below Côte-Saint-Luc Road and runs through a short tunnel, before emerging between Addington and Botrel Streets and running down to Sherbrooke Street and Saint Jacques Street, where it spectacularly goes from below-ground to well above ground as it intersects with Autoroutes 20 and 720 in the infamous Turcot Interchange (dubbed "Spaghetti Junction" by train crews operating the former CN Rail Turcot Yard). Following the conversion from streetcar line to highway, the Décarie Estate unsuccessfully sued the city but was unable to prevail because they did not document their case well enough for the nevertheless sympathetic court.
Decarie Boulevard itself continues from Monkland Avenue south to Saint Jacques Street and from Autoroute 40 north into Ville Saint-Laurent past Du College Station and Côte-Vertu Station/Norgate shopping centre.
See also
Northern section
After its concurrency with A-40, the northern section of A-15 is the main freeway route to the Laurentians until it downgrades to Route 117. It also links up to the northern suburbs of Montreal, as well as provides a connection to the A-440, A-640 and the A-50 in Mirabel. The first section from A-40 to Saint-Jérome was opened in 1958 as a toll road, although the tolls were later removed. This section was also the first to be designed as an autoroute in the province. It was named Autoroute Montréal-Laurentides during the 1960s. [4] .
Over the next years, it was extended north to Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts as a new connection to touristic and skiing destinations in the Laurentides including in Saint-Sauveur, Sainte-Adèle, Mont-Gabriel and Estérel. In the future, it is possible that the A-15 may continue even farther north, past Mont-Tremblant, as Route 117 is already an at-grade expressway with a freeway bypass of Saint-Jovite completed, and the name Autoroute des Laurentides is also recognized on the freeway bypass (and exit numbers continue). This section is numbered separately from the southern section as if it were a different route. The northern route is also part of the Trans-Canada Highway.
Exit list
Location | No. | Destinations | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle | 0 | Lua error in Module:Jct at line 204: attempt to concatenate local 'link' (a nil value). - New York | |
1 | Montée Glass, Montée Guay | ||
6 | ![]() | ||
11 | Montée Henrysburg | ||
13 | Montée Murray | Southbound exit only | |
Saint-Patrice-de-Sherrington, Saint-Jacques-le-Mineur | 21 | ![]() ![]() ![]() | |
Saint-Édouard | 29 | Saint-Édouard, Saint-Jacques | |
Saint-Mathieu | 38 | Saint-Mathieu, Saint-Philippe | |
Candiac | 42 | ![]() ![]() |
South end of Route 132 overlap |
44 | Boulevard Montcalm, Candiac | ||
45 | ![]() |
Northbound exit and southbound entrance | |
La Prairie | 46 | Boulevard Salaberry, La Prairie | |
47 | Rue Saint-Henri, La Prairie | Northbound exit and entrance | |
- | Parc de la Marina | Southbound exit and entrance | |
Brossard | 50 | Boulevard Matte | |
51 | Boulevard Rivard | Southbound exit is via exit 50 | |
51 | Rue Riviera | Southbound exit and entrance | |
52 | Boulevard Rome | ||
![]() ![]() |
North end of Route 132 overlap; south end of A-20 overlap | ||
Boulevard Marie-Victorin | Exits only | ||
![]() ![]() ![]() |
South end of A-10 overlap | ||
Champlain Bridge over the St. Lawrence River | |||
Montreal | |||
57 | Île de Sœurs | ||
58 | ![]() |
North end of A-10 overlap; northbound exit and southbound entrance | |
60 | Wellington Street, ![]() | ||
61 | Rue Atwater, Saint Patrick Street | ||
62 | Boulevard de La Vérendrye, Avenue de l'Église | ||
63 | ![]() ![]() |
North end of A-20 overlap; signed as exits 63-E (east) and 63-O (west) southbound | |
64 | ![]() | ||
66 | Chemin Côte-Saint-Luc, Chemin Queen-Mary | ||
69 | Rue Jean-Talon, Rue de la Savane, Avenue Van Horne | ||
70-O | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
South end of A-40/TCH overlap | |
67 | ![]() |
southbound exit and northbound entrance only | |
68 | Rue Stinson, Chemin Rockland, Boulevard de L'Acadie | northbound exit and southbound entrance only | |
1-E | ![]() ![]() |
North end of A-40/TCH overlap; southbound exit and northbound entrance only | |
2 | Chemin de la Côte-Vertu, Saint-Laurent | Southbound exit and northbound entrance | |
2 | Boulevard de L'Acadie | Northbound exit and entrance | |
3 | Boulevard Henri-Bourassa | no northbound exit, southbound entrance and exit via Jules-Poitras Boulevard | |
4 | Rue de Salaberry | Signed as exits 4-E (east) and 4-O (west) southbound, no southbound entrance | |
Médéric Martin Bridge over the Rivière des Prairies | |||
Laval | |||
7 | Boulevard de la Concorde, Boulevard Cartier, Boulevard Notre-Dame | ||
8 | ![]() |
Southbound exit is via exit 10 | |
10 | ![]() | ||
14 | ![]() |
Signed as exits 14-N (north) and 14-S (south) southbound | |
16 | Boulevard Sainte-Rose, Av. de la Renaissance | ||
Gédéon-Ouimet Bridge over the Rivière des Mille Îles | |||
Boisbriand | |||
19 | ![]() | ||
Boisbriand, Sainte-Thérèse | 20 | ![]() ![]() |
Signed as exits 20-E (east) and 20-O (west) |
23 | Rue Saint-Charles, Mirabel, Saint-Augustin | ||
Mirabel, Blainville | 25 | Blainville | |
28 | Blainville, Mirabel | New exit opened in August 2009 | |
Mirabel | 31 | Mirabel, Saint-Janvier, Sainte-Monique | |
35 | ![]() | ||
39 | ![]() | ||
Saint-Jérôme | 41 | Boulevard du Grand-Héron | |
43 | Saint-Jérôme, Bellefeuille, Saint-Colomban | Signed as exits 43-E (east) and 43-O (west) | |
45 | ![]() | ||
51 | Aire de Service La Porte du Nord (rest area) | ||
Prévost | 55 | Prévost | Northbound exit and southbound entrance |
Sainte-Anne-des-Lacs | 57 | Sainte-Anne-des-Lacs | Northbound exit and southbound entrance |
58 | Chemin Avila, Piedmont | ||
Saint-Sauveur | 60 | ![]() | |
Sainte-Adèle | 64 | Chemin du Mont-Gabriel | |
67 | ![]() |
Northbound exit and southbound entrance | |
69 | ![]() | ||
72 | Montée à Séraphin, Chemin du Mont-Sauvage, Sainte-Adèle | Northbound exit and southbound entrance | |
Val-Morin | 76 | ![]() |
Northbound exit and southbound entrance |
Val-David | 80 | 7e Rang, Val-David | Northbound exit and southbound entrance |
Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts | 83 | ![]() |
Northbound exit and southbound entrance |
86 | ![]() | ||
88 | Rue Demontigny | Northbound exit and southbound entrance | |
89 | ![]() ![]()
|
2000 overpass collapse
On June 18, 2000, the southern portion of the Boulevard du Souvenir overpass, which crosses the autoroute, collapsed into the roadway, killing one and injuring two when cars were crushed underneath the structure. Sixteen beams weighing about 70 tons each fell. The highway was closed for several days while workers removed the debris. The remains of the structure were later demolished as well for safety reasons according to then–Quebec Transport Minister Guy Chevrette. A new overpass was built less than three years later. A similar incident occurred on September 30, 2006, also in Laval, on Autoroute 19 where the collapse of the De la Concorde overpass killed five.
The overpass was under construction at the time the incident occurred. The company in charge of the project was Beaver Ridge, a company that was under bankruptcy protection and was without a construction license for about four months. Dessau-Soprin was an engineering firm that was supervising the project operations. [5] [6] [7]
The city of Laval affirmed that, prior to the collapse, it discovered unspecified problems with some of the beams of the overpass. Beaver Ridge president Mario D'Errico told Le Devoir that the failure was caused by a rupture of one of the beams—which was later confirmed by a Transports Quebec employee—citing an instability of one of them which then consequently caused the collapse of every single beam on the south side. Generally, beams are fixed together in the form of an X[8] [9]
Inspectors from the Commission de la Santé et de la Sécurite du Travail (CSST) noticed some irregularities in the workplace several months before the incident.The CSST blamed Beaver Ridge for security flaws and had demanded changes in regards to the beam and formwork structures. In a report published in 2003, they had also discovered that there were communication problems at the site. [10] [11]
Public inquests started in late 2000 with Coroner Gilles Perron in charge of the case. After the inquest, Beaver Ridge was severely blamed for constructions flaws. In 2003, an engineer had mentioned that he had presented incomplete and inadequate plans for the project. No criminal charges were laid in the case [12].
Soon after the Souvenir incident, a study by the Montreal Gazette along with Transports Quebec and the City of Montreal discovered that several overpasses of the Décarie Expressway were in poor condition [13] which required extensive repairs and renovations during the following years.
1987 flash flood
On July 14, 1987, a sudden torrential downpour caused by an HP supercell thunderstorm dumped over 100 millimetres (4 inches) of rain in just over one hour across the city. The Décarie Expressway, which is below-grade, was heavily flooded and became a river. At some locations, the water reached a maximum of 3.6 metres in depth on the roadway. Over 300 vehicles were abandoned when they were submerged. Two people were killed by the storm [14]. One 80-year-old man on the Expressway drowned and another one was killed by electrical wires.
On July 5, 2005, another torrential downpour flooded portions of the Expressway after several manhole covers blew over. [15]
See also
References
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- A-15 at Exitlists.com
- A-15 at Quebec Autoroutes
- Steve Anderson's MontrealRoads.com: Decarie Autoroute (A-15)
- Steve Anderson's MontrealRoads.com: Laurentian Autoroute (A-15)
- Transports Quebec Map Template:Fr icon
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/Wikinews-logo.svg/40px-Wikinews-logo.svg.png)