"Province de Québec" Research Thread

[gt379]

Bonjour / Hello,

I want to start this thread and have it in the list of public research. As I have time I will keep on adding stuff.

First off, in Canada, it is the responsibility of the province to plan, build and maintain their roads through the provincial ministry of transportation.
In Québec, it is called the MTQ ( Ministère des Transports du Québec).

French language is used on most signs and reassurance shields (cardinal points). Bilingual signs are used in and around the island of Montréal (most in the west of the island and around major bridges but it is very limited to cardinal points and stop signs that are only STOP or both ARRÊT and STOP on one same sign).
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Example of bilingual highway sign around Montréal: [ external image ]

Right hand turns on a red light are permitted throughout the province.
Right hand turns on a red light are not permitted where prohibition signs are in place on the light pole (some of them even have time constraint, say from 7AM to 7PM no right turn permitted at red light).
Right hand turns on a red light are not permitted on the whole island of Montréal (signs indicating prohibition are at all entrances of the island and not on every light pole; so for drivers not usually driving in Montréal it is very easy to forget to not to turn... ). [ external image ]

Québec's Autoroute speed limit sign: [ external image ]

Sign indicating that no U-Turns are allowed between divided highways unless for authorized vehicles on highways: [ external image ]

Québec's Reassurance Shield (example): [ external image ]

Chevron sign in Québec: [ external image ]

This is the inspection station / weigh station sign: [ external image ] The translated text here is: Open when lights are flashing.

1:20 Quebec DLC in my view: [ external image ]
Note it is just a draft with what I think would be the most driven areas - there is much more to Quebec than just that draft but in a game at a 1:20 scale we don't want to put too many roads/towns so we sense the long distance between the areas... The Road to some DAMS were not included on this prototype


work in progress more to add

[rookie_one]

Concerning place to see, there is a lot, but i'll go with what I know most, DAMS!

Beauharnois :
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Shawinigan-2 :
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Manic-5 :
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La Grande-2 :
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La Grande-1
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Here is a list of visitable Hydro-Quebec installations :
http://www.hydroquebec.com/visit/

Here the full map(which also show where the 735kv lines go through, which are an Quebecois invention) Do note that the map is a bit outdated, since one of the 2 under construction, La Romaine-3, has come online since then :
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Next, here some of the more interesting roads :
The Billy Diamond Highway and the Transtaïga, which were both build during the construction of the first phase of the La Grande complex in the 70s :
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The Billy Diamond highway, which go from Matagami, in Abitibi, to Radisson, in the Eeyou-Itschee region, is probably one of the only asphalted highway in north america where you don't need an escort for special transport, is about 700 km long with only one gas station in the middle.

The Trans-taïga, which goes from Radisson to Caniapiscau Reservoir, about 700 km long, is in gravel, and is mostly used by hydro-quebec and crees hunters, only fuelling point of note is the Pourvoirie Mirage. To note is that for special transport you won't have an escort, same situation as the Billy Diamond highway

Road 169
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That road is small, but it's notable for going around the St-Jean Lake, which is the biggest natural lake in Quebec.

Road 138
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That single-lane highway is one of the oldest highway in north america and one of the longest

Highway 20 and 40
These two divided highways link the western part of the province to the eastern part, with Highway 20 being south of the St-Lawrence, and 40 being north of it, and both acting as the main link between Montreal and Quebec City

Highway 55
It act as a link from Drummondville to Shebrooke on the southern part, and from Highway 20 to Trois-rivière and Shawinigan, after which it become Highway 155 which go through the Mauricie region all the way the Chambord, in Lac-St-Jean


To note, here the nomenclature for highways :

Last digit :
even = east-west axis
odd = north-south axis

two digit= divided-lane highway (ex : 20, 40, 55, 70, 73, 85)

three digits starting with 1 = Single-Lane highway, National(ex : 155, 169, 138, 116, etc...)

Three digits starting with 2 = Single-Lane highway, Regional, south of St-Lawrence

Three digits starting with 3 = single-lane highway, regional, north of st-lawrence

Three digits, starting with another digit than 1, 2 or 3 = Divided-lane highway, acting as a bypass for another highway (example, both 640 and 440 acting as bypass for the 40, 720 acting as a bypass for the 20, etc....)

Do note that in french we use National instead of provincial in lots of stuff, not only roads.

More information :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highways_in_Quebec
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9se ... %C3%A9cois

And also, which will be mostly used for logging (which usually happens in abitibi and lac-st-jean regions), forest roads :
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Routes_fo ... u%C3%A9bec

And finally, full list of panels in Quebec, thanks to the MTQ :
http://www.rsr.transports.gouv.qc.ca/Di ... neaux.aspx

Maps of the main roads in quebec :

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[gt379]

Merci for your time to add these valuable information!!!! I did not even know that the road to Radisson got renamed
Québec DLC will definetely be an amazing DLC as we have Appalachians, Laurentians, Valley of the Saint-Lawrence; what a beautiful province!!! I think one my favorite trip would be from say Montréal to Fermont on the 389 that would be amazing - just a regular dryvan and general freight nothing heavy haul (not my thing).

At 1:20 scale there should not be too many towns and cities to give that feel of long distance:

Example for the 20 132 combo: no towns from Ontario border until Montreal (west island where companies are the most) except for the Les Cèdres Inspection Station (should be shifted westward though because it is too close to the 30 junction), Drummondville , Québec, Rivière-du-Loup, Rimouski, Mont-Joli (scenic just for the 132 junction), Matane, Gaspé and of course the rest of the peninsula back to Mont-joli with Percé as scenic, New Richmond for the 299 (cutting through the peninsula), Matapédia for the junction with New Brunswick and finish off the 132 with maybe Amqui. That is my view just for the Saint-Lawrence / Gaspésie part of the province.

i can write more about my view at 1:20 scale for other parts maybe I can skecth a 1:20 map from my point of view and share it...

Thank you so much to add information @rookie_one

[rookie_one]

Noprob, I do live here after all :p

That said, I think the 138 would be the best addition, it is one of the oldest road in north america after all, and one of the most scenic IMO

[bobgrey1997]

I'm surprised Canada allows the roads to be in various languages. I would imagine that would be troublesome, as most people from other parts of the country wouldn't be able to read the signs, effectively disallowing then to easily travel through an area of the same country.

[gt379]

@bobgrey1997 , I understand what you are saying. Here is an article I found: https://globalnews.ca/news/4441278/queb ... ictograms/

[bobgrey1997]

How does one pictogram "no entry when flashing" in a way that everyone will understand?

[gt379]

I know hen

i would say that in the old days, yes it could have been more difficult for non local

Nowadays with internet and google map, you shall check where you go before the trip / for truckers who get dispacthed last second address 1) pull over and check your map on your phone internet
2) ask the dispatch that he checks the map for you (if you don't have data or a phone) and handwrite the direction

especially if you know that you are going to places unfamiliar

[rookie_one]

I'm surprised Canada allows the roads to be in various languages. I would imagine that would be troublesome, as most people from other parts of the country wouldn't be able to read the signs, effectively disallowing then to easily travel through an area of the same country.

Road signage is under provincial juridiction, and main language in Quebec is french, hence why it's all using either pictograms or french.

I hope that you realize that asking people to forego their main language for tourists is pretty patronizing.....

And yes, we have a pictogram for closed roads :

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[bobgrey1997]

The entire country should have a standard language for its higbway network, like most countries do.
Even the US has English as the legal language for higbways, even though there is no official national language (and many areas do offer many other languages on text-based road signs, just look at New Your City's escape route signage).

So, no, not patronizing; standardizing.