Route 136 (R-136), formerly Autoroute 720, known as the Ville-Marie Expressway (English) or Autoroute Ville-Marie (French) is an
Autoroute highway in the
Canadian
Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
province of
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
that is a spur route of
Autoroute 20 in
Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
. Its western terminus is located at the
Turcot Interchange
The Turcot Interchange is a three-level four-way freeway interchange within the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Located southwest of downtown, the interchange links Autoroutes 15 (Décarie and Décarie South Expressways) and 20 (Remembrance ...
, a junction with
Autoroute 15 and
Autoroute 20, and its eastern terminus is near the
Jacques Cartier Bridge
The Jacques Cartier Bridge () is a steel truss cantilever bridge crossing the Saint Lawrence River from Montreal Island, Montreal, Quebec, to the South Shore (Montreal), south shore at Longueuil, Quebec, Canada. The bridge crosses Saint Helen's ...
(
Route 134), where the highway merges with
Notre-Dame Street
Notre-Dame Street (officially in ) is a historic east–west street located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It runs parallel to the Saint Lawrence River, from Lachine, Quebec, Lachine to the eastern tip of the Island of Montreal, island in Poi ...
. The Autoroute Ville-Marie designation is named after the downtown
borough of Ville-Marie, through which the expressway is routed. It was designated Autoroute 720 until 2021 when it was renamed to Route 136.
Part of R-136 runs underground (below grade) through
Downtown Montreal
Downtown Montreal (French language, French: ''Centre-Ville de Montréal'') is the central business district of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The district is situated on the southernmost slope of Mount Royal, and occupies the western portion of the ...
. This section begins from the west at
Rue Guy (exit 4:
Rue de la Montagne /
Rue Atwater) and remains underground almost all the way to its eastern end, except for a short section between Rue Saint-Urbain and Rue Hôtel-de-Ville. The tunnelled section west of this gap is known as the Ville-Marie Tunnel, and the section east of it is known as Viger Tunnel. However, locals regard both tunnels as one, and the term ''Ville-Marie Tunnel'' is often used to refer to both tunnels.
History
It was originally envisioned that Autoroute 20 would extend from the
Turcot Interchange
The Turcot Interchange is a three-level four-way freeway interchange within the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Located southwest of downtown, the interchange links Autoroutes 15 (Décarie and Décarie South Expressways) and 20 (Remembrance ...
, along the route of the 720, to the
Louis Hippolyte Lafontaine Bridge-Tunnel. Indeed, when the first section of the expressway was constructed and opened in the early 1970s, many Montrealers, anticipating that it would eventually replace the
Metropolitan Expressway as the primary connector route to the Lafontaine Tunnel, and onward to
Quebec City
Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...
, dubbed the then-unnamed roadway the "Downtown
Trans-Canada Highway
The Trans-Canada Highway (Canadian French, French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the A ...
". The
provincial transport ministry (Le ministère des Transports du Québec, or MTQ) had planned to extend the Viger Tunnel east to
Autoroute 25 at its Souligny Avenue interchange. The right-of-way has existed since the original layout of the A-720, and buildings along the extension were demolished at that time, even though the 720 was not completed due to cost constraints. The government of Montreal instead converted the portion of Rue Notre Dame east of the Jacques Cartier Bridge into a six-lane ''urban boulevard'', rather than continue a sunken limited-access expressway. The final project was approved, and work began on Souligny Avenue to double the span of the travel lanes.
In 2007, working crews for
Transports Québec
Le Ministère des Transports et de la Mobilité Durable du Québec (), known by its short form name Transports Québec or alternatively by the acronym MTQ, is a Quebec government ministry (government department), ministry responsible for transpor ...
discovered major cracks in a support pillar and closed several lanes of the expressway. Transports Quebec announced on August 10, 2007, major repair projects for a large section of the Expressway west of the Ville-Marie tunnel.
On July 31, 2011, part of the roof of the Ville-Marie Tunnel collapsed, sending large chunks of concrete to the road below. This incident occurred at a time with little traffic and no vehicles were damaged. Several construction workers were on site at the time and were unharmed. The tunnel had to be closed for repair of the roof and several other parts of the tunnel. Transport Minister Sam Hamad announced on Friday, August 5 that the tunnel would re-open the following day.
In 2021, the A-720 was renamed to Route 136 due to the highway having reduced lane sizes following the reconstruction of the
Turcot Interchange
The Turcot Interchange is a three-level four-way freeway interchange within the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Located southwest of downtown, the interchange links Autoroutes 15 (Décarie and Décarie South Expressways) and 20 (Remembrance ...
.
[Turcot Project]
(in French)
Exit list
Gallery
Image:Approaching-turcot-interchange-east.jpg, Approaching Turcot Interchange
Image:Through-turcot-interchange-east-1.jpg, Start of interchange
Image:Through-turcot-interchange-east-2.jpg, Near end of interchange
Image:Ville-marie-east.jpg, Ville-Marie expressway, after lanes merge from Décarie
Image:720-rue-guy-exit-east.jpg, Rue Guy exit
Image:720-rue-de-la-montagne-rue-st-jacques-exit-east.jpg, Rue St-Jacques/Rue de la Montagne exit
Image:Start-of-tunnel-east.jpg, Beginning of tunnel
Image:Through-tunnel-1-east.jpg, Entering the tunnel
Image:East-of-downtown-1-east.jpg, East of Palais des Congrès
Image:Pont-jacques-cartier-exit-east.jpg, Pont Jacques-Cartier exit
Image:Approaching-end-of-highway-east.jpg, Near eastern terminus
Image:Ville-marie-blvd-east.jpg, Highway at Ville-Marie boulevard
Image:Beginning-of-notre-dame-east.jpg, Terminus at Notre-Dame
References
External links
Ville Marie Autoroute (A-720) at Steve Anderson's montrealroads.comTransports Quebec Map
{{Streets in Montreal
136 136 may refer to:
*136 (number)
*AD 136
*136 BC
*136 (MBTA bus), a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus route
*136 Austria
136 Austria is a main-belt asteroid that was found by the prolific asteroid discoverer Johann Palisa on 18 Ma ...
Roads in Montreal
1972 establishments in Quebec