Quebec Autoroute 5

Infobox road
province=QC
type=Autoroute
route=5
alternate_name=Autoroute de la Gatineau
length_km=22.1
length_ref= [Ministère des Transport: "Distances routières", page 5, Les Publication du Québec, 2005]
length_round=0
established=1964Fact|date=September 2007
direction_a=South
direction_b=North
terminus_a=King Edward Avenue, Ottawa
junction=jct|state=QC|A|50 in Hull
terminus_b=jct|state=QC|Route|105 near Farm Point
previous_type=Route
previous_route=399
next_type=A
next_route=10
cities = Gatineau

Autoroute 5 (or A-5, also called Autoroute de la Gatineau) is a short Autoroute in the Outaouais region of western Quebec. It connects the central urban area of Gatineau (formerly Hull) with the recreational areas of Gatineau Park and the exurban rural areas of Chelsea and La Pêche. The southern terminus provides access to the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge, which continues into downtown Ottawa.

There are two segments of A-5:

# The main segment is a freeway that continues for 21 km (13 miles) from the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge through the Hull sector of Gatineau to a short access road to Route 105 in the northern part of Chelsea.
# The second segment, built in 1993, is a short four-lane, at-grade expressway bypass of Wakefield, which overlaps Route 105 and Route 366. It is generally expected that the two sections will eventually be linked up. Furthermore, it has been rumoured that the A-5 will even be extended all the way up to Alcove (about 7 km north of Wakefield).

On November 15, 2006, the provincial and federal governments announced a 2.5 km extension of the southern segment past Tulip Valley, an area of Route 105 that has been the site of multiple fatal incidents in the past. [ [http://www.lawrencecannon.com/?section_id=4421&section_copy_id=47713&language_id=0 Prolongement de l'autoroute 5 en Outaouais ] ]

The Autoroute generally has four lanes of traffic with the exception of the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge between exit 1 in Gatineau and the Sussex Drive exit in Ottawa, where it widens to six lanes.

For a few years until completion of Boulevard des Allumettières from Autoroute 50 towards Aylmer, Route 148 overlapped Autoroute 5 from A-50 to the Saint-Raymond exit. As there are no exits from A-5 to westbound Route 148, motorists on A-5 heading towards Aylmer must still use the Saint-Raymond exit and travel a few kilometers to the south and west in order to access Route 148 westbound via an interchange in the Le Plateau community. Motorists from Ottawa can exit downtown at Boulevard Maisonneuve and access des Allumettières in which Route 148 joins that road at the A-50's western terminus.

Starting in June 2008, the MTQ will completely replace the concrete surface into asphalt from Ottawa to Boulevard Saint-Joseph after multiple incidents in which pieces of concrete broke out from the surface including one that struck the windshield of a vehicle killing its driver in November 2007. The construction is slated to be completed before the winter 2008-09.

Exit list

References

External links

* [http://www.google.ca/maps?f=d&hl=en&saddr=45.438,-75.70237&daddr=RTE-105+%26+Aut-5,+Chelsea,+QC&layer=&sll=45.43737,-75.702753&sspn=0.003312,0.006437&ie=UTF8&z=11&ll=45.508753,-75.771332&spn=0.211729,0.411987&t=h&om=1 Google Maps: Autoroute 5 from Ontario border to Exit 21 (Chelsea)]
* [http://webfil_92.tripod.com/autoroutes_en/id1.html A-5 at Quebec Autoroutes]
* [http://www.inforoutiere.qc.ca/fr/carte_routiere/index.asp Transports Quebec Map] fr icon