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When driving out of Quebec City on the Pierre Laporte Bridge, Autoroute 73 has six lanes (3 in each direction). It then becames a 4-lane divided highway until the city of Ste.Marie where the Autoroute became the “Other route”, i.e. it used to go from four to two lanes and was no longer divided (Super-2 type). In Vallee-Junction, the road came back to four lanes with median up to its current end at Exit 61 in Beauceville.
The 2-lane part of Autoroute 73 was quite dangerous because of traffic in both directions being on the same roadway. Fortunately, the right-of-way was already acquired and the overpasses were also designed for this possibility as you can see in the pictures above and below:
Construction of the missing lanes finally started thanks to a Federal fund of 75 millions from the Building Canada program. In 2010, twinning construction began between Calway River and Route 276 in the town of St.Joseph. The new lanes have opened to traffic on October 31st 2011. Autoroute 73 now has 4 lanes with a median in that area.
In 2011, work also began on adding the missing lanes on the rest of the Autoroute northward. From St.Joseph to Ste.Marie, trees were cleared out and construction began. A construction contract was awarded in 2011 for the road twinning between St.Joseph and Vallee-Junction (8 KM / 4.8 miles). These new lanes opened in the summer of 2013.
In 2012, work continued from St.Joseph to Valley-Junction. Most overpasses were already built for the twinning as shown below. However small bridges had to be built over streams and rivers. You can scroll down to see some pictures.
In Fall 2014, the remaining 12 KM (7.5 miles) stretch of 2-lane highway was under construction and the two missings lanes were being added. In October 2015, the last 2-lane segment was finally reopened as a 4-lane divided highway ending the twinning project for good.
Note that the last extension of Autoroute 73 from Beauceville to St.Georges has been done with 4 lanes and a median.
Autoroute 73 in St.Joseph where an overpass had been built ready for the twinning of the highway.
Pictures of the twinning
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