Driving from Wisconsin to Maine via Canada. Last time we arrived in Montreal at about 2:00 in the afternoon and the traffic was just terrible. It took 2 hours to crawl through the city. Is this typical? Is there a way to bypass the city, or should I arrive sooner than 2:00? Thanks

It strikes me that the logical route would be Autoroute 40 to Autoroute 15 (the Decarie ditch) to Autoroute 10 across the Champlain Bridge. Those highways are badly designed and old, and can get overloaded and slow, but absent a multi-car pile-up in the Decarie, I can't imagine it ever taking anything close to that much time. Is that the route you took, or did you really crawl through the downtown city streets?

I guess the best way to bypass the city would be to take an all-American route south of the Lakes.

Now that I have thought about it more there was road construction. The sides of the highway were all ripped up and there was lots of big equipment everywhere. I never got off the highway. I did drive through what seemed to be the downtown area, but the highway was large, at least 3 lanes each direction. So I crawled through on a really large highway!

I am pretty sure I came in on highway 40, at some point I got on 10 toward Sherbrooke. Maybe it was just the construction that slowed everything down. Is all the construction over?
Thanks Ron, it makes me feel more optimistic about driving this way again. I love the drive through Canada as it is so beautiful, and in general less traffic than going through the U.S.

Given the age and condition of these highways, I doubt the construction will ever be over. I was on the 40 recently and it was fine. I have not been on the Decarie portion of 15 recently, so have no idea of its status. The ministère des Transports road report doesn't show any activity there but it does show road construction eastbound on the Champlain bridge starting this weekend, lasting into December. Wouldn't want to be on that bridge during the afternoon rush hour.

http://www.quebec511.gouv.qc.ca/en/e....asp#par_route

Construction is especially bad this year.
The best way way to bypass Montreal (short of taking the all USA route) is to take the Mercier Bridge (Pont Mercier) and take Route 132 to Autoroute 30 and connect with Autoroute 10.


You need to take Autoroute 20 to get to the Mercier bridge. To get to Aut. 20 off Aut. 40 take either Boul. St Charles, or Boul. St-Jean or Blvd. Sources Sud to Aut. 20 Est and take the Mercier exit. If you go past Sources you might as well stay on Aut. 40 and take Decsrie and the Champlain Bridge combination.

The best station for traffic reports is CJAD Am 800.
www.cjad.com

Mark

Thank you all so much. I obviously need a better map and to do a little research as google maps doesn't name the bridges. I print out all your suggestions and try to get through the city before the middle of the afternoon.

We ended up driving across New Hampshire and Vermont and entered Canada in North Eastern New York on a Sunday afternoon. Waited over an hour to get through customs and then drove north to Montreal. Traffic in Montreal was busy but nothing like I experienced a few years ago. It was a piece of cake. Stayed overnight in Ottawa. Had a wonderful time. Thanks for all the advice.