Autoroute 31 (A-31) is an
Autoroute in the region of
Lanaudière
Lanaudière (, ) is one of the seventeen administrative regions of Quebec, Canada, situated immediately to the northeast of Montreal. It has a total population ( 2016 Census) of 494,796 inhabitants, an increase of 4.9% over the 2011 census.
Geog ...
in
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
. Constructed in 1966, A-31 primarily links
Joliette with
A-40 and in turn to
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
,
Trois-Rivières
Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River across from the city of ...
, and other points served by Quebec's autoroute system. A-31 is only long, making it one of the shortest autoroutes in the province. It is
multiplexed
In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...
with
Route 131 for its entire length.
A-31 carries the name Autoroute
Antonio-Barrette, named for a politician from Joliette who briefly served as
Premier of Quebec
The premier of Quebec ( French: ''premier ministre du Québec'' (masculine) or ''première ministre du Québec'' (feminine)) is the head of government of the Canadian province of Quebec. The current premier of Quebec is François Legault of th ...
in 1960.
Route description
A-31 begins just south of its interchange with A-40 in
Lavaltrie. Motorists exiting A-40 can choose to head north on A-31/Route 131 or south on Route 131 alone to Lavaltrie's city centre. The A-31/A-40 interchange has an unusual configuration, built to accommodate tollbooths that were dismantled.
The freeway runs through farmland for much of its length, with exits at km 2, km 7 and km 12 to serve local roads.
A-31 ends at km 15 at a
cloverleaf interchange with
Route 158. Plans for Quebec's autoroute system initially called for A-31 to meet
A-50 at this interchange. Anticipating this outcome, Route 158 in the immediate vicinity of the interchange was constructed as a
limited-access highway
A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway, expressway, limited access freeway, and partial controlled access highway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which ...
and signed as A-50. Once plans to extend the A-50 east of the
A-15 were abandoned in the 1980s, this stretch of highway was redesignated Route 158. A series of deadly accidents on Route 158 prompted a 2014 petition drive to reconstruct the highway to Autoroute standards and return the designation of A-50.
Motorists exiting A-31 at km 15 may continue on Route 158 west to
Saint-Esprit, Route 158 east to
Berthierville
Berthierville ()(also called Berthier-en-haut, and legally called Berthier before 1942) is a town located between Montreal and Trois-Rivières on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada. Berthierville is the seat of D'Autray ...
, or Route 131 north to
Saint-Félix-de-Valois. Past this interchange, A-31 ends and becomes Boulevard Dollard, which continues into downtown Joliette.
Exit list
References
External links
A-31 at Exitlists.comTransports Quebec Map
{{Quebec Autoroutes
31
Joliette
Roads in Lanaudière