Route from Ottawa to Quebec City?
Replies: 3 - Last Post: Jun 7, 2012 4:40 PM Last Post By: mathowny
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Route from Ottawa to Quebec City?
I was going to go through Montreal and hit HWy 20 on the south shore to get to Quebec City. But with the protests, I was wondering if it might be better to give Montreal a miss (not staying there this time anyway) and go south of Ottawa, cross the river at Hawkesbury, take the hwy north of Mirabel (hwy 50), over to hwy 40 and just go along the north shore, which I think is a prettier route anyway.Questions
1) would it be better to give Montreal a miss, not go through it since I am not staying there anyway?
2) how good a hwy is 40 - it's been a few years since I was on it - is it a divided hwy? 4 lanes?
3) google maps indicates that both routes are about the same distance, but the north shore would take about 1/2 hour longer - although that doesn't account for traffic of course. Is this real?
Thanks for your help.
1
The protests do not affect the highways so it should not be a part of your decision of going through Montreal or not.On another hand, this is the season of repairs on the highways and bridges and this might give you problems whatever route you chose.
The easier route from Ottawa is the 417 east which connect to the 40 and will lead you directly to Québec city. The 40, like the 417 is a divided highway, 2 lanes in each direction except when it goes through Montréal Island and where there are 4 lanes in each direction.
2
I would recommend going around Montreal with the 50 and 640 to get to the 40 north of the city. I have done this once and avoided all Montreal traffic. Another option is simply to cross into Gatineau right away and take the 50/148 all the way. There are some slower sections but the overall time is not much different.3
Ben's got good advice if you want to just go, tofino_surfer has a good point if you'd like to see something other than highway along the way. I've done both - but if I do the 417/40, I time it so that I don't hit Montreal during rush hour. The 50/148 is a bit more scenic, definitely slower.A.
