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Autoroute 40 really has two different personalities. It traverses the spine of Montreal Island as the Metropolitan Autoroute, an antiquated, six-lane expressway designed and built during the late 1950's. Its design flaws, such as inadequate acceleration-deceleration lanes and left-exits, are well documented (see the April 15, 2000 edition of the Montreal Gazette for an article on the Metropolitan Autoroute in which I was quoted). Service roads do help, but not much.
Beyond Riviere des Prairies, Autoroute 40 becomes the North Shore Autoroute (also known as the Félix-Leclerc Autoroute). Some vestiges from when A-40 was a toll road in the 1960's and 1970's, such as blue destination signs and canternary lighting, characterize the freeway. Immediately east of A-640, there are collector-distributor (C/D) roads for the local exits.
The section between Berthierville and the Quebec City was built mostly from the mid-1970's to mid-1980's, after the Repentigny-to-Berthierville toll section already had been built. For the most part, it is a nice, congestion-free alternative to A-20. However, A-40 takes a detour in the Trois-Rivieres area, where the bypass north of the city was never built. Instead, A-40 uses a route through the city that is somewhat more congested. Actually, this part of A-40 was intended as a spur route (A-755); it was re-designated in 1992. A second section of A-40 also was left unbuilt in the area of Quebec / Jean Lesage International Airport, just west of Quebec City. The current section of A-40 in this area was intended to be the western part of A-440. Look for ghost ramps near both the Trois-Rivieres and Quebec City unbuilt sections.
A-40 comes to an abrupt end near Montmorency Falls. It can (and should) easily be extended east to Beaupre on the current QC 138 right-of-way, possibly accompanied by service roads.
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