Québec Roads - A-440 (E.)

Autoroute 440, Québec City


There are actually three Autoroute 440s. The first is in Laval near Montréal, and has a stub on the west side. The other two are on either side of Québec City, and were originally planned to be completed through downtown. The western half has no stub, but much of its intended length was taken over by A-40 because that route was supposed to connect along the south side of Aéroport Jean-Lesage to the A-73/A-573 junction. The eastern half, well, you'll see that below. There's a further bit of intrigue because the eastern end of the route is vague - while it technically ought to end at A-40 just west of Pont de l'Île d'Orléans, many signs indicate that A-440 continues along A-40 and they end together at the bridge. This isn't helped by the fact that those 2 km of freeway are part of Autoroute Dufferin-Montmorency, which follows 440 into the city. Anyway, the Québec City route should have been planned as A-840 to avoid duplication. There's also A-540 here, but the 540 by Montréal was just taken over by A-30, so it gets a pass. Again, though, it should have been planned as A-740 (and current 740 done as 940). With the current situation, the best solution would be to convert the two 440s up here to 840 and 940, taking advantage of the remaining designations.


Blvd. Charest continues Autoroute Charest, the western A-440, and helps link to the eastern A-440 through downtown. This old sign is on Charest Ouest (west of Blvd. Langelier, which divides the city).


Onto the eastern stub from Rue Fleurie, a block or two south of Blvd. Charest. The overhead ramps lead to and from QC 175 to the south - Av. Dufferin-Montmorency, suggesting that the uncompleted freeway would have been Autoroute Charest in its entirety. The abutment to the right and ramp stubs on the right (EB onramp) and left (WB offramp) are all part of an elaborate scheme that never got off the ground to connect A-440 via a tunnel straight into Blvd. René-Lévesque. If you look carefully, you'll see a slanted line under "GPT" on the right of the second photo and a similar slanted line under a trapezoidal brown area. The brown area and "GPT" have doors over the tunnel entrances, where the ramps would have come in still superelevated to the left, supported on the angled foundations that create the slanted lines. Because it wasn't necessary to provide a completely smooth overpass profile, the old ramps were simply cut off at a convenient girder. The A-440 mainline would have come down right where I got on at Rue Fleurie, tunnelling under downtown along the base of the bluffs.

EB fog warning just past the stubs.


Looking east at the Orleans Island Bridge, Pont de l'Île d'Orléans, carrying QC 368 across half of the St. Lawrence River. A-40 EB comes in on the right in the last photo, so I'm counting it as the end of A-440.

The first WB BGS, right after A-40 leaves.

Parent A-40
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