The first signage on A-10 coming out of A-720, and the last sign on A-10 going into the heart of Montréal ("SOYEZ VISIBLES", or "be seen", is on the ramp heading down to A-720 EB, which runs underneath downtown Montréal in a tunnel and thus requires lights to be on).


This is on the left side of the gantry where Exit 1 leaves. A-10 WB ends at A-720; 720 was supposed to be A-20, but 20 was never finished through Montréal on its proposed path. For just a few miles, A-10 is on its own as the Bonaventure Expressway (L'Autoroute Bonaventure), and then suffers through the Champlain Bridge before it's left alone again.


Utility pole numbers aren't stamped around the pole but hang off of it. These photos are EB, with Pont Victoria (QC 112) in the background. A-10 and QC 112 will see each other again many times.


Still EB. At this time, the mainline A-10 to Ile des Soeurs was under construction, so Exit 4 (to A-15 NB and A-20 WB) is pressed into action. This is possible because the long Exit 4 roadway, which stays on the Ile de Montréal (on the south side of the Canal de Lachine), is the original A-10, and thus has a full interchange at A-15/A-20. As you see in the second and third photos, A-10 originally did just like A-20 does at A-15 from the other direction, with the old EB lanes (actually pointing west here) crossing underneath the old WB lanes. Back to the first photo, notice the newer A-10 shield and the older but incorrectly non-cutout A-15 shield. It's the width contrast I'm mainly after, and I much prefer the old, narrower style.


A-30 intersects A-20 north of A-10 and A-15 south of it. These signs are EB and WB, respectively - I-87 is reached via A-15, and thus A-30 acts as a shortcut heading westward, but heading eastward there is really no reason to take A-30.


A cool distance sign along A-10 EB, showing you how to get to the U.S. Perhaps kilometrage to Québec City and intermediate points would also be useful? Distance to I-91 is fairly unimportant, since I-89 is a much better way to head south (and intersects I-91 to boot). Odd that I-89 isn't signed as A-35 to I-89, and same with I-91/A-55.

---

The remainder of these photos until the next breakline are of blue guide signs, the original freeway standard for Québec until the 1970's. I just verified in 2008 that most if not all of them are still up! Most of these photos are courtesy Averill Hecht (I was fighting the sun), so I'll just tell you "from Averill" as necessary.


Technically, this from Averill should come after the first blue sign below, but I'd rather take it out and mention it first. The A-35 shield is 3-digit width, and the QC 227 shield doesn't look like it has its bottom point.


Two A-10 EB signs, and two signs from QC 133 (northbound and southbound, respectively), all from Averill. Back in the day, the triangular Autoroute identifying sign was in vogue.


Now three eastbound signs, and one from the surface street, all from Averill. Like in France, colors were used to distinguish route types (and the same colors as those in France), except there are no District roads (tertiary routes in France).


All westbound, all mine. The kilometer posts tell the story here. The Sortie 55 advance is perfect - 2.5 km to go at km post 57.5. The Montréal distance sign, less so. Since exit numbers appear to start at 0 when A-10 starts (not all highways obey this principle, like A-15 north of Montréal), and since A-10 starts in the city itself, this sign must be in the wrong place. I know the city didn't move 3 km in 30 years.


I'd like to comment on the fourth sign. You can see the remnant of the old exit tab to the left, which was once Sortie 115. When the S was added (and the destination of Magog stuck on the sign), the new tab lacked the little exit diagrammatic that characterizes older signs. To make up for it, Québec cleverly stuck on an arrow - except now, drivers might be expecting to bear right here and then travel the 1.2 km (for more on that unusual distance, keep reading). All that's okay, because that arrow is BUTTON COPY - the only button copy in Québec (well, it's not even there now). First, third, and fourth photos from Averill.
Sortie 115 is unusual - QC 112 forms a rotary underneath, while QC 141 starts from the top and proceeds north into the Parc du Mont-Orford - except the road heading north is actually southbound. To make matters more fun, the exit is an inside diamond - take away the outer ramps from a cloverleaf, and you have four weaving sections and four loops. Now go back up to the sign with the button copy arrow. Notice that the next exit is listed as 1.2 km away, a very unusual distance. The "1," is actually tacked on behind the original distance of 2 km, and that is because a new ramp was built on the outside of the SB-EB loop. That's why the signs were changed from Sortie 115 to 115-S, and the proof is that the Sortie 115-N advance (scroll back up again) lists a distance of 800m from 115-S. This extra ramp is possible because the EB onramp uses a piece of Chemin Miletta just to the south of A-10, so Sortie 115-S actually just goes to that Chemin. No, I don't understand why the interchange can't just be a regular cloverleaf. As Stéphane Dumas explains, the folded cloverleaf was to allow all traffic to pass through the same tollbooth (in the middle of the rotary on A-10), and that Sortie 115-S was added when the tollbooth was subtracted. This makes more sense, but doesn't explain why other ramps weren't constructed at the same time or why the configuration hasn't since been fixed.


All of the westbound blue signs I was given from Averill.


QC 141 NB and SB, respectively, at A-10, again from Averill.


Eastbound again from Averill. Photos from the A-55/A-10 duplex continue on the A-55 page linked below.

Onto A-15 and A-10/15/20
Onto A-55 and A-10/55
Onto A-610, former A-10

Onto QC 112 (it can wait until Sortie 115 or even 143)
Onto A-720
Sortie 11 to A-20
Sortie 11 to A-30
Into New York on I-87
Into Vermont on I-89
Onto A-35
Into Vermont on I-91
Sortie 140 to A-410
L'Autoroute Bonaventure and L'Autoroute des Cantons de l'Est (both A-10) on Steve Anderson's montrealroads.com
Back to Québec Roads
Back to Roads