Autoroute 50 Quebec - Montreal to Ottawa - August, 2021

[@Tacoosss]

Best drive! I loved watching the highway and the signs! Keep up❤

[@alexishoude4449]

When the world needed him most, Asphalt Planet is finally back!

[@AsphaltPlanet1]

Lol, thank you

[@alexishoude4449]

@@AsphaltPlanet1 Btw, in case you wouldn't know, I have a lot more that I could add, here's some example: 1. When we all thought Asphalt Planet left KZbin forever, he's finally back 2. After over a month with no videos, Asphalt Planet is back on his channel

[@hylje]

Asphalt Planet finally remembered his channel password

[@alexishoude4449]

@@hylje That's a possibility

[@FreewayAndrewCAN]

Nice work! One of my favourite drives.

[@AsphaltPlanet1]

Thank you.

[@heureux99]

Yesssss, you're finally back! I can't put into words how happy I am to have you back on KZbin after such a long time 😃. I just wanna know If you're still motivated to make videos because it's been like a month and half since you haven't make any videos. And btw, happy Canada's day and happy late Quebec's day.

[@AsphaltPlanet1]

Merci pour le commentaire. I should have another video online next week as well.

[@heureux99]

@@AsphaltPlanet1 Can't wait for it 😃! And btw, I saw some videos of the A-50 before, but it was good to have it's entire length for once

[@KCDashcammer]

Always thought of autoroutes as the interstate highways of Quebec but maybe does not have the same minimum standards as seen by the two-lane segments of A-50.

[@TransCanadaPhil]

This is a lot like Ontario Highway 17 in North-Western Ontario where they had to blast through hundreds of km of rock to build the highway and you can see it all along the sides.

[@RoadsOfAsiaBen]

Great drive! Why is there a railroad crossing on the freeway at 10:01? That doesn't make sense because freeways can't have railroad crossing. They need to replace that with overpass, that is really dangerous.

[@AsphaltPlanet1]

There are two railway crossings along A-50 between Mirabel and Detroit. It's the same train line, and its not very busy. I suspect when that section of A-50 was first constructed in the 70s, the government of the day expected that railway to be abandoned, and didn't want to build a bridge for a railway that was going to be ripped up. If and when A-50 is ever twinned, if the railway was still be in service, I'd expect grade separations to be constructed.

[@francoisrousseau7026]

there’s also a railroad crossing the A-20 in drummondville i think it is not used often

[@alexishoude4449]

@@francoisrousseau7026 There's also one in St-Hyacinthe

[@GreatAussieDrives]

Awesome drive! I love the longer city-to-city videos like this one. It's a bit of a shame that the A-50 is still a 'super 2' expressway, I think the traffic volumes I saw in the video definitely justifies upgrading it to a 2+2 dual carriageway. Is the A-50 the preferred route between Ottawa and Montreal, or do most drivers opt for the 417?

[@AsphaltPlanet1]

The 417 is the preferred highway between Montreal and Ottawa. The central section of A-50 (between Gatineau and Lachute) only opened within the last ten years or so. I think they may have underestimated just how much traffic would end up using it when they first constructed it.

[@brianchagnon2086]

When I go to Gatineau from Montreal I always opt for the 417, even if I lose time. A50 is dangerous

[@MrDilldock]

It's being upgraded as we speak in some parts. Can't come soon enough.

[@richardterry3448]

0:00/29:25 Interstate/Autoroute 85 Quebec Rainbow City To Charlotte July 2023

[@JoshuaOnTheMove]

Did the ride from Côte Saint-Luc to Ottawa on McLeod street today, long journey. 2 in a half hours long lol

[@dontgetlost4078]

I wonder what the drive would've been like if all that blasting could've been saved by boring tunnels instead. Would've been better for the environment, as there'll be no gaping holes in the landscape. This is my only gripe with the twinning, there's no way out of more blasting and permanent damage. Otherwise, yeah it needs twinning...

[@AsphaltPlanet1]

Simply widening rock cuts along the current highway probably isn’t going to have all that significant of an effect on the natural environment. A-50, while scenic, doesn’t go through a particularly remarkable environment, and it’s not like there isn’t suitable habitat near by for any ecology displaced by the widening project.

[@CrystalClearWith8BE]

QC A-50 isn't entirely controlled access, but most of it is undivided. It provides an alternate route between Greater Montreal and Canada's National Capital Region instead of using the Trans-Canada Highway as a complete freeway which is a quicker route than the A-50. This route is best for travelling from Gatineau to Montreal and vice versa while ON 417/QC A-40/TCH Main Route as a freeway, is best for travelling from Ottawa to Montreal and vice versa. Also, Happy Canada Day, Asphalt Planet!!! Canada aka the Great White North is 155 years old now.

[@AsphaltPlanet1]

Thanks for the comment.

[@CrystalClearWith8BE]

Plus, I forgot to mention that QC A-50 parallels QC R-148 from Gatineau to Mirabel, QC. QC R-148 traverses to Laval, QC while QC A-50 ends at QC R-117 in northeastern Mirabel, QC after an interchange with QC A-15/TCH Alt.

[@milesmonacothesequel2294]

you're the guy

[@concretebob7680]

54 Rock Ottawa! Canadian Summers are gorgeous. It will be great when A-50 is finally twinned between Montreal and Ottawa. I would venture to guess that people from Southern Montreal use Autoroute genius

[@yeahdaroo1187]

Suggestion; play these videos at 2x speed, not just it feels delusional but the music turns into rap lol

[@smith22]

Completely shocked and horrified that the A50 isn't actually a freeway! Wow, that's just scandalous to sign it as such. For shame, Transports Québec!

[@bricewanda2594]

Good Job

[@jayiiful]

Great video!

[@AsphaltPlanet1]

Thank you.

[@EdwardW98]

What are your thoughts on median cable barriers? Interesting to see that cable barrier placed in such a narrow median. I wonder how effective that is being a flexible barrier. Here in Michigan we like to place those a minimum of 12 ft from the edge of travel way. Glad to see a new video and great job with the video nevertheless!

[@AsphaltPlanet1]

I am generally in favour of cable median barriers if they are used properly. In terms of A-50 I think it’s installation proved to be a mistake. I don’t know if you noticed or not, but the section that received cable median barrier also received continuous illumination as part of that work. And the illumination is permanently installed, not with wooden poles and overhead wires or anything, so I doubt they went to that much trouble only to turn it out and immediately rip it out. I believe the cable median barrier gets hit fairly frequently and from what I understand they have to close the highway in order to retention it. Seems like a real maintenance headache. In Ontario our first cable median barrier was installed on the 401 between Tilbury and London. One of the very first trucks to hit it punched through, which of course made the media with the idea that cable median barriers weren’t effective at all. Since then it’s been hit dozens of times and I think the catch rate is something like 94%. So not as effective as a concrete barrier, but at a fraction of f the cost, pretty good bang for the Buck in my opinion.

[@MrDilldock]

A lot of people have died on that stretch. This was more a reactionary move by the province to have it installed. That section is currently being twinned now.

[@richardterry3448]

0:18 Québec/28:50 Ontario

[@richardterry3448]

0:18 1. Autoroute/Interstate 440 East Of Rainbow City

[@richardterry3448]

1:23 2. Autoroute/Interstate 40 (To Autoroute/Interstate 85)

[@richardterry3448]

10:45 3. QC/US-70/29 Autoroute Business/Business 85

[@richardterry3448]

11:00 4. Autoroute/Interstate 85

[@richardterry3448]

28:51 5. Autoroute/Interstate 85 (Just Near Charlotte Skyline)

[@axelosito]

100 km/h ?? Very slow. Why not at least 120 or more ?

[@xz1891]

There's a super c at gatineau close to a50

[@lolsivasubramaniam6721]

Good vid do autoroute 520 next plz

[@AsphaltPlanet1]

Thank you. I don't have any footage of A-520.

[@schwenda3727]

Am I the only one here who’s at a loss as to why Quebec DIDN’T blast all the rock needed for ANY future road construction from the getgo? Long term construction costs aside, what if hardcore environmentalists find some endangered species somewhere out of the blue RIGHT WHEN Quebec actually starts committing to actually making it 100% divided highway? Probably unlikely, but have you read/seen all the back & forth (and substantially scaling back) in Michigan regarding the final mile of the US 31 freeway just south of I-94 & I-196 in recent years? Literally all of that trouble over some butterflies, I kid you not…

[@AsphaltPlanet1]

The Quebec government has announced that some additional sections of this road are set to be twinned in the coming years. The trouble with blasting the entire roadway is that you have to put all of the rubble somewhere, and while it would have been better to built the entire road all at once, they designed the road the way that they did in order to save some money. Maybe they didn’t have the funding to construct the entire road as a four lane facility, so it will still be incomplete to this day if they had have chosen to build it that way. Thanks for the comment

[@schwenda3727]

I’m not talking about 4 laning the road from the getgo, I’m talking about just blasting ALL of the rock needed for the eventual full buildout from the getgo but leaving it all empty/vacant until the additional lanes are eventually needed. No paving the additional lanes; just getting as much dynamite work as possible done years or even decades in advance with all the ROW preserved very accordingly within the original “super 2” construction.

[@AsphaltPlanet1]

I understand what you are saying, but I don't think you could just leave piles of rock rubble adjacent to the highway without moving it somewhere, and I don't think you could actually complete all the necessary blasting without removing the spoils to access the rock underneath. So it ends up being quite a lot of work.

[@MrDilldock]

Well they did build all the overpasses for a 4 lane freeway, at the very least.

[@minisluy]

Transport Québec need to twin autoroute 50 for it entire length

[@RoadsOfAsiaBen]

Agreed, the overtaking is really dangerous and what's more dangerous is the railroad crossing at 10:01, they need to replace that with overpass.

[@AsphaltPlanet1]

Thanks for the comment.

[@hdufort]

Totally. There are just too many accidents on that autoroute.