West-East bypassing Montreal | GTAMotorcycle.com

West-East bypassing Montreal

J

jc100

Well-known member
Anyone know if the Highway 30 toll road has made the east-west journey bypassing Montreal any more tolerable? Just looked and it lists major road works on it right now. I haven’t been out that way for a while and was wondering what other's experience is?

I want to head into Quebec in the car as efficiently as possible and avoid the **** show that is Montreal traffic, so just hassle free and also not beat the suspension of the car up with off-roading on Montreal centre roads. Thinking of even heading up to Hawksbury and across the 50 over the top of Montreal eventually to Joliette as that’s mostly headache free usually but a little longer.

Doesn't matter what side of the St Lawrence I’m on as the bridge at Trois Rivieres can take care of that.

Anyone been out that way recently?
 
I did it the other direction a few weeks ago on the way back from the Maritimes
HWY 30 was brutal, took 1.5 hours to go 15k from lane closures
a bypass route that has 2 lanes in each direction around a city that size is useless
TO's bypass is 16 lanes

I use another route going east that misses all the MTL island crap
you end up in Shawinigan, very pretty but a lot longer time and miles
will see if I can extract that from the trip and post up
 
J_F said:
border crossing near Renfrew, then zigzag NE well away from MTL
if you want I can send you the route file
View attachment 50702
Click to expand...

Thanks. I would need to head down to Kingston from that route but I see how it makes sense if the GTA is your stop. I think I might try the Hawksbury/50 way which mirrors yours but a bit further south. I'll skip the 30 as any recent experience I’ve had has been much the same.
 
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Hwy 30 going east is not bad for traffic, But be prepared to have your kidneys shaken.

Coming back west is rough once you hit 30.
I think if you get it later in the evening you might miss the traffic
 
ToSlow said:
Hwy 30 going east is not bad for traffic, But be prepared to have your kidneys shaken.

Coming back west is rough once you hit 30.
I think if you get it later in the evening you might miss the traffic
Click to expand...

All the roads around Montreal always seem to be in a **** state. This morning it listed two “severe” roadworks events on the 30 on the official website. I‘ll be doing this in the morning so I think I’ll suck up the extra 50 minutes it will take me to head up to Hawkesbury and go across that way. At least that’s a nice drive most of the way too.
 
I remember taking that route a few years ago. Smooth sailing both ways. But it appears we may have been just lucky going east and west compared to what is being said here.
 
Did it on the 21st and 28th of July (weekdays). Around 8am one day and 2pm the other. Morning was ok and afternoon wasn't terrible (wasn't at a stop anywhere but construction was there. Route between Montreal to Quebec City was the worst with traffic and construction which is where we lost time on the drive to NB.
Not sure if that 30 bypass is worse on weekends.
 
Hardwrkr13 said:
Did it on the 21st and 28th of July (weekdays). Around 8am one day and 2pm the other. Morning was ok and afternoon wasn't terrible (wasn't at a stop anywhere but construction was there. Route between Montreal to Quebec City was the worst with traffic and construction which is where we lost time on the drive to NB.
Not sure if that 30 bypass is worse on weekends.
Click to expand...

That’s where I’m headed. Which bank of the St Lawrence had the bad roadworks?
 
jc100 said:
That’s where I’m headed. Which bank of the St Lawrence had the bad roadworks?
Click to expand...
20 (Trans Canada) has a few spots where they divide traffic, plus the amount of trucks and others in both lanes means you're not going any faster than the speed limit between those two cities. Then there's more construction south of Riviere-Du-loup before the NB border down to one lane and often flagged one-way traffic (you're waiting for the other direction to go then it's your turn).
But to answer your question, the 30 detour around Montreal was fine, there's some construction at the eastern section of it before you hit the 30 again but it's mostly fine and if you're not going at peak traffic times you should be fine.
 
ToSlow said:
Hwy 30 going east is not bad for traffic, But be prepared to have your kidneys shaken.

Coming back west is rough once you hit 30.
I think if you get it later in the evening you might miss the traffic
Click to expand...
Totally agree about kidney shaking. We we worried about NS roads when we moved here in June but that Hwy 30 has them all beat. In terms of time - yes there were some road works but no major delays. Went through around 10:00am
 
just came back from out east a week ago.
jesus christ quebec roads and highways suck.
way there, waze routed us through montreal for some reason.
way back we made sure it routed us south on 30-toll. saved a ton of times and kidneys.
both times we passed through at wee hours in the night so there was not much traffic.
 
killvino said:
just came back from out east a week ago.
jesus christ quebec roads and highways suck.
way there, waze routed us through montreal for some reason.
way back we made sure it routed us south on 30-toll. saved a ton of times and kidneys.
both times we passed through at wee hours in the night so there was not much traffic.
Click to expand...

Every time I check Google maps or Waze it puts the route through the middle of Montreal. I have to force it to go north or south. Also, did anyone notice that Google maps now has speed camera/police info? Seems to have happened recently, they call them “mobile speed cameras” but they mean cop cars.
 
Hwy 20 east after getting off 30 is so bad it creates a traffic jam
 
great city as a destination, food, entertainment, history
but getting there or going past it is a nightmare

used to do business there frequently
Via Rail was the best way in an and out
 
ToSlow said:
Hwy 20 east after getting off 30 is so bad it creates a traffic jam
Click to expand...

Definitely sticking to the north route now. Should bring me out near Repentigny. The only time I had an issue with this route was labour day when all the students were heading back to universities in Montreal and beyond and the 50 was clogged from Gatineau all the way up. I’ll skip some of that getting on at Hawkesbury though.

Agree with JF. Beautiful city…ugly road system.
 
From Sept 1st you’ll need proof of vax to enter bars and restaurants here in Quebec! The locals have to use the Quebec app.
 
jc100 said:
From Sept 1st you’ll need proof of vax to enter bars and restaurants here in Quebec! The locals have to use the Quebec app.
Click to expand...
Surprised Quebec is moving in that direction.
 
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