Autoroute 73's southern end has been in the Town of St.Joseph from 1992 to 2007. The southern end of the highway has been in Beauceville from 2007 to 2016. Normally construction should have continued from there southward to the city of St-Georges. Unfortunately, a small group of people has been opposed to the proposed autoroute pathway in the town of Beauceville since 2006. In the meantime the project received its authorization certificate from Notre-Dame Des Pins to Route 204 in Saint-Georges. Construction began in 2009 in Saint-Georges and has been completed in 2013. In 2016, the missing link in Beauceville opened so Autoroute 73 is complete!

The Quebec DOT indicated that it does not plan to extend Autoroute 73 further south because of the lower traffic there. Many citizens, businesses and local authorities would like to see the Autoroute being extended up to the Maine Border.

Extending the highway to Maine would be nice but maybe not necessary. I personally think the highway has to by-pass the city of St-Georges and at least end at the southern edge of the city. Then, the highway could be extended up to St.Come but should end there. After St.Come, the existing road is safer and has less curves.

Although the DOT says it has no plan to extend the highway, it's still possible that the autoroute could be extended from the roundabout at Route 204. It would have to be in the form of a urban boulevard or by-pass road. The City of St.Georges has plans for such a road and is discussing this project with the Quebec DOT.

St.Georges has already started to build 150th street. This east-west 4-lane street is located in the middle of the city and begins at Route 173. It currently ends at 10th avenue but is planned to connect to that proposed future by-pass boulevard. The city wants the by-pass boulevard to go around the city and end south near 208th street and connect to Route 173 approximately 24 miles north of the Maine border.

This would greatly relieve Route 173 of heavy traffic by directing some of it straight to Highway 73 north to Quebec City, and other to Route 204 East. It will also speed up the route from Quebec City to the border and from the United-States to the Quebec City region.

In 2016 following the opening of the missing link of Highway 73 in Beauceville, many people including the current mayor of the city of St.Georges, Claude Morin, started to plead for this extension project to be done as quickly as possible. Mayor Morin is asking for it to be as a full highway to the Maine border, same thing for Beauce Member of Parliament Maxime Bernier.

The main goal of extending the highway further south would be to reduce traffic congestion in the city of St-Georges but also to better connect Quebec and the Beauce region to the neighboring state of Maine as well as to all of New England. It would possibly mean that Maine would have to add some sort of connecting highway built between Interstate 95 and the Canadian border to replace the winding Route 201.

Although no official projects are on the table, many have been discussed. Here's a summary of the possibilities:

1) Extension of Highway 73 as a full highway:

• 42 KM of road from Route 204 in St-Georges to the Maine border.

• 13 KM of road from Route 204 in St-Georges to the town of St-Come.

• 7 KM of road from Route 204 in St-Georges to the south of St-Georges (at Route 173)

• 3 KM of road from Route 204 in St-Georges to 175th street in St-Georges

• 1.5 KM of road from Route 204 in St-Georges to 150th street in St-Georges

2) Extension of Highway 73 as a by-pass road or boulevard:

• 13 KM of road from Route 204 in St-Georges to the town of St-Come.

• 7 KM of road from Route 204 in St-Georges to the south of St-Georges (Route 173)

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