Quebec Autoroute 50

70x100px Autoroute 50
Autoroute de l'Outaouais
290px
Route information
Maintained by Transports Québec
Length:	159 km (99 mi)
Existed:	1975 – present
Major junctions
West end:	Rue Montcalm in Gatineau
	Route 148 in Gatineau (Hull) A-5 in Gatineau (Hull) Route 344 in Grenville-sur-la-Rouge A-15 (TCH) in Mirabel
East end:	Route 117 in Mirabel
Location
Major cities:	Gatineau, Mirabel, Lachute, Brownsburg-Chatham, L'Ange-Gardien
Highway system
Quebec provincial highways ← A-40 A-55 →

File:Highway 50 QC.JPG

Autoroute 50 between Fassett and Calumet in the Ottawa River Valley

Autoroute 50 (Autoroute de l'Outaouais) is an Autoroute in western Quebec, Canada. It links Canada's National Capital Region (Gatineau) and the Greater Montreal area (Mirabel).

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.

The route provides an east-west freeway alternative to Route 148 that does not require travelling in Ontario, unlike the main Trans-Canada Highway route (A-40 / Hwy 417).

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 km 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 as well as 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.

Unusual for a limited-access highway, the A-50 contains two railway crossings at grade, both of the Quebec Gatineau Railway (QGRY). The first crosses the QGRY Lachute Subdivision between exits 260 and 272, at , while the second crosses the QGRY St-Jerome Spur about 1 km west of exit 279, at .

There has been some support to rename the highway Autoroute Maurice-Richard after historic Montreal Canadiens hockey player Maurice Richard, but the Commission de toponymie du Québec chose to wait until the section between Buckingham and Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours was finished before making a decision, and to date no renaming has happened.

In 2022, following the death of Montreal Canadiens hockey legend Guy Lafleur (who was a native of Thurso), the Quebec government openly considered renaming the highway after Lafleur following a request made by the Minister Responsible for the Outaouais Region Mathieu Lacombe and by Thurso mayor Benoit Lauzon.

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 is the first installation of its kind in Quebec and serves as a pilot project.

The two at-grade intersections at km 281 and 283 were removed in 2016.

Exit list

Note: exit numbers in parentheses are unsigned.

Region	Location	km	mi	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Outaouais	Gatineau			(133)	Rue Montcalm	At-grade intersection; western terminus
				134	Boulevard des Allumettières (formerly Boulevard Saint-Laurent) (Route 148 west)	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance; signed as exits 134-O (west) and 134-E (east); west end of R-148 concurrency
				135	A-5 (Autoroute de la Gatineau) /  – Centre-Ville, Ottawa, Maniwaki	Exit 2 on A-5 (Autoroute de la Gatineau)
				138	Rue Saint-Louis (Route 307)
				139	Boulevard Maloney (Route 148 east)	Eastbound exit, westbound entrance; east end of R-148 concurrency
				140	Boulevard de La Gappe	Westbound access to Route 148 east (Boulevard Maloney)
				141	Boulevard de La Vérendrye	Eastbound exit, westbound entrance
				145	Montée Paiement
				147	Boulevard Labrosse
				150	Route 366 (Boulevard Lorrain)
				154	Boulevard de l'Aéroport	Access to Gatineau-Ottawa Executive Airport
				159	Avenue des Laurentides
				165	Rue Georges	Eastbound exit, westbound entrance
				166	Route 315 (Chemin de Masson / Avenue de Buckingham) to Route 148	Transition from 4 to 2 lanes or vice versa
				171	Chemin Lépine
	L'Ange-Gardien			174	Route 309 north /  – Mont-Laurier
	Thurso			187	Route 317 – Ripon
	Plaisance			197	Montée Papineau
	Plaisance			205	Route 321 – Saint-André-Avellin	Transition from 2 to 4 lanes or vice versa
	Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours			210	Route 323 – Montebello, Mont-Tremblant	Transition from 4 to 2 lanes or vice versa
	Fassett			216	Montée Fassett
Laurentides	Grenville-sur-la-Rouge			226	Chemin Avoca
				233	Chemin Kilmar
				239	Route 344 south (Scotch Road / Chemin Scotch) to Route 148 – Grenville, Hawkesbury	Connects to Ontario Highway 34
	Brownsburg-Chatham			252	Montée Labranche
				254	Route 148 (Rue Principale) – Lachute	Transition from 2 to 4 lanes or vice versa
	Lachute			258	Route 327 (Avenue d'Argenteuil) – Saint-André-d'Argenteuil
				260	Route 329 (Chemin Béthanie) – Centre-Ville, Mirabel (Saint-Hermas)	Transition from 4 to 2 lanes or vice versa
	Mirabel			272	Route 148 (Route Arthur-Sauvé) – Saint-Eustache
				279	Chemin St-Simon
				285	Boulevard Henri-Fabre – Mirabel International Airport	Signed as exits 285-N (north) and 285-S (south) westbound; transition from 2 to 4 lanes or vice versa
				288	Boulevard Henri-Fabre
				292	A-15 (TCH) (Autoroute des Laurentides) – Saint-Jérôme, Montreal	Signed as exits 292-N (north) and 292-S (south); exit 35 on A-15
				(293)	Route 117 (Boulevard Curé-Labelle) – Saint-Jérôme, Mirabel (Saint-Janvier)	At-grade intersection; eastern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access

External links

• Transports Quebec Autoroute 50 Project Description and Timeline (in French)
• Transports Quebec Outaouais Projects Description and Timeline (in French)
• A-50 at motorways-exits.com
• A-50 at Quebec Autoroutes
• Transports Quebec Map

• Transports Quebec Map