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[webfil]

Mmm...

I doubt it, since it would leave about less than 6 inches on each side to paint the markage -which is quite tight- and it is not in the habits of MTQ to have such dispositives, although one exception comes to my mind ; Avenue Souligny before its "twinning" had removable jersey barriers separating its tight and unshouldered 4 lanes, and the speed was limited to 70 km/h (45 mph).

Also, I think a guardrail such as on I-93 in Grafton County, NH would be less lethal in the case of a collision.

Anyways, the right-of-way and most structures are wide enough to allow twinning, which is more plausible in the case of an "arising need" -if you believe that the past beholds the future.

[AsphaltPlanet]

Some new photos of new section of A-50 between Highway 315 and Montebello:

[oscar]

Any idea of when the new section, filling in the last gap in A-50, will open for traffic?

[D-Dey65]

A few photos of Autoroute 50 between Ottawa and Montreal taken on Sunday:

It looks like there's enough room for a second lane off to the right. Honestly, I'm surprised so many Quebec Autoroutes are only two lanes wide, as per the discussion.

[Alps]

It looks like there's enough room for a second lane off to the right. Honestly, I'm surprised so many Quebec Autoroutes are only two lanes wide, as per the discussion.

At least they leave the room. With the 417 corridor offering a more direct ride between Ottawa and Montreal, this would be most useful for Mirabel airport traffic heading to Ottawa, but otherwise should be the relatively lightly traveled route. Now, yes, 50 is absolutely needed given conditions on 148, but four lanes, I don't think, and neither does MTQ.

[vdeane]

A-50 also looks a lot more interesting than ON 417.

[Dr Frankenstein]

A-50 also looks a lot more interesting than ON 417.

It absolutely is.

[1995hoo]

It looks like there's enough room for a second lane off to the right. Honestly, I'm surprised so many Quebec Autoroutes are only two lanes wide, as per the discussion.

At least they leave the room. With the 417 corridor offering a more direct ride between Ottawa and Montreal, this would be most useful for Mirabel airport traffic heading to Ottawa, but otherwise should be the relatively lightly traveled route. Now, yes, 50 is absolutely needed given conditions on 148, but four lanes, I don't think, and neither does MTQ.

I assume the text in boldface would mean primarily commercial traffic like cargo trucks and the like? Does Mirabel even receive any passenger flights these days? I seem to recall that when Dorval was expanded the province finally quit trying to force passenger traffic to use Mirabel.

[Dr Frankenstein]

That's right. Mirabel is freight only now. And perhaps a few charter/private flights.

[oscar]

Any idea of when the new section, filling in the last gap in A-50, will open for traffic?

A partial answer to my own question -- the eastern part of A-50 has been opened west to new exit 205 (QC 321).  Still closed between exits 187 and 205 as of yesterday.  That part looks almost ready, except for striping and signage.

[AsphaltPlanet]

Any word on the completion of the last remaining section of A-50?

[webfil]

According to an article published the 17th Ottawa-Gatineau newspaper Le Droit, no official opening date has been announced. There is some painting, signing, lighting and landscaping left to do.

According to Radio-Canada Gatineau/Ottawa, the soil conditions at kilometre 202 were problematic, hence the late opening. Journalist Patrick Pilon was able to walk the whole 18 kilometres, found everything in place, except landscaping still undergoing at that very point.

I would expect mid-December, with, I presume, upcoming quality controls and ribbon cutting ceremonies.

[AsphaltPlanet]

I drove A-50 on Canada day, and there was some pretty serious construction going on just west of the 317 interchange (km 187) to remedy some settlement areas.  When I drove the highway in May, I didn't recall any settlement areas along A-50 through there.  It looked like construction crews were going to be installing some Styrofoam in lieu of more soil in the weak areas.

[webfil]

Landfill failure occurred indeed at two places.

I had to drive the thing for about 12-15 times in the last 18 months, and I'd say it worsened over 2011. In 2009, the roadway had already shown signs of wear here.

I am surprised you did not notice ; "uneven pavment" warning signs were erect not so long after the road opened. Those bumps were quite deep.

Anyway, I think the road was under warranty, so the contracting company had to do these bits over at their expense. But I'd have to check that out.

[webfil]

So, no shenanigans for the A-50 opening. The whole road is available to use, but the ribbon-cutting ceremony should take place in a week or two. The last gap was eliminated this morning at 11 o'clock. Montréal/Gatineau is now legally (id est respecting speed limits) feasible under 1½ hour, although with jams on A-15 and limited passing possibilities on A-50, it will be longer.

EDIT : I might not have made myself clear. The trip between Médéric-Martin bridge and Gatineau limits (a point between exits 174 and 171) is now just a little over 149 kilometres. Add 40 kilometres to/from dowtown Hull (say Maisonneuve boulevard tunnel) and another 20 to/from downtown Montréal (say Maisonneuve boulevard again, Peel subway station this time) via Ville-Marie and Décarie.

The construction took nearly 20 years, not counting the small stretches built in the 70's and 80's.

Here is a picture posted on Le Droit website, taken ±1 km east of R-321 last summer

Jessy Laflamme, Le Droit, ©
http://www.lapresse.ca/le-droit/actualites/petite-nation/201211/26/01-4597641-la-50-maintenant-ouverte.php

[ghYHZ]

I stayed in Montebello Sunday night and drove into Hull yesterday morning at 8.........Guess I should have waited a couple of hours!

There was a lot of activity around the start of the new section and it certainly looked like something was imminent.   

[seicer]

Very nice.

Someone mentioned why it was a "super two" and how it qualified for Autoroute status. I'm not sure on the specifics, but Canada on the whole has a very low population density compared to the United States. Much of Canada is the equivalent of driving through Nebraska or South Dakota. There just isn't the traffic to justify a complete four-lane upgrade - although the passing lanes and such will help.

ON 417/A-40 to the south is equally as nice but also barren. It goes through very few population centers for much of its length.

[ghYHZ]

That's right. Mirabel is freight only now. And perhaps a few charter/private flights.

The other end of A-50 and the beginning of the divided highway at Mirabel Airport. The Terminal Building is all but abandoned with most ramps and access points barricaded but there is sill access to the Cargo Facilities and the Bombardier Aircraft Assembly Plant and the runways are still in use.







The concrete barrier on the right blocks access to the terminal:

[webfil]

Someone mentioned why it was a "super two" and how it qualified for Autoroute status. I'm not sure on the specifics, but Canada on the whole has a very low population density compared to the United States. Much of Canada is the equivalent of driving through Nebraska or South Dakota. There just isn't the traffic to justify a complete four-lane upgrade - although the passing lanes and such will help.

ON 417/A-40 to the south is equally as nice but also barren. It goes through very few population centers for much of its length.

I do not agree with that.

Let's compare apples with apples. I-86 (NY) and A-50 have pretty much the same traffic ratings schemes (5,000 vpd lowest, 10-12,000 vpd rural, 50-75,000 vpd urban) in a somewhat hilly area. In both areas the highway are going through, there is an industrial and lumber history, the economy today is more about services or high-technology and agriculture. 86 is minimum 4-lane divided, 50 is mostly 2, 3 lanes, with small marginal 4-lane divided sections.

Density of counties crossed per superior network controlled-access highway
A-50	Data source : Institut de la Statistique du Québec
County	Density (people/km²)	Land (km²)
Agglomeration of Gatineau	758.6	345.1
Papineau	7.5	2926.9
Argenteuil	24.5	1236.3
Mirabel	84.8	483.1
Average	71.1
I-86	Data source : Wikipedia
County	Density (people/km²)	Land (km²)
Chautauqua	49	2751
Cattaraugus	23.8	3362
Allegany	18	2268
Steuben	27.4	3608
Chemung	84	1057
Tioga	38	1344
Broome	109.5	1831
Average	42.8

In my humble opinion, the reason for building Super-2s are beyond the simple fact that the density is low.

Here are my hypotheses :

• Canada does not have federal funding for most highways. Highways such as KH-417 and A-20 may bear the Trans-Canada shield, but they were built notwithstanding mid-sized settlements that could have been served by a highway that lately went through nowhere. Examples? Thurso, Hawkesbury, Lachute were too far from 417 to benefit from its construction. Joliette, Trois-Rivières, Donnacona, even Québec city where omitted when building the A-20 —yet a (provincial) bridge linked the north shore of Saint-Laurent river near Québec city to A-20 5 years following the A-20 construction—, even though they were living industrial cities with growing transportation needs. That also brings inconsistency, when the provincial needs and will betray the federal decisions. In eastern Canada, several instances of the TCH were built outside the city, serving through traffic but totally non-adaptive toward the local needs, often paralleling an existing road. For example, NB-2 does not dip into a city for almost all its length, except for licking the outskirts of 2 of the 3 biggest cities in the province.
• The interurban transportation demand is punctual (summer peaks) or lesser in the Ottawa/Montréal corridor, rather than Erie Lake/Hudson Valley route;
• The relationship between government authorities and roads are not quite the same in both countries, since the funding do not follow the same path. The 70's freeway moratorium in Québec allowed the province to go through horrible economical crisis without slashing in popular benefits (I won't enter in political details), and keeping the public opinion favourable toward freeway buildings (the moratorium had been declared when popular demand for stopping of the A-720 eastern extension were intense because of harsh expropriation). The Super-2 is a choice of building smaller, cheaper highways, not a response to a reduced need.

But those are hypotheses.

Great pictures, AsphaltPlanet. They really show the vacuity of the place. I saw most of the signs you pictured patched twice or three times with foreign signs for cinematographic sets, as the empty airport is made available for filming. Once, it seemed to me that Austrian signs were put up.