QC 201 SB/QC 132 WB across Beauharnois Canal leaving Salaberry-de-Valleyfield. I always want to call this the Île de Salaberry because the canal is as wide as the St. Lawrence River on the other side of the "island."
Click to drive the bridge NB/EB.
Looking west from the bridge at sunset.
Looking south from the north shore of the river, where there's a little parking lot to the west where you can get a view like this for yourself.
An alternate view from the east side.
QC 201 all by itself, NB leaving Salaberry-de-Valleyfield as the only 2xx route to make it above the St. Lawrence River. (That territory is reserved for 3xx routes.) It does end before crossing the Ottawa River, but all the other routes in that little wedge of Québec begin with 3. In addition to having exactly one old sign, this four-lane freeway section of QC 201 is most notable for controversially both being and not being Autoroute 920. How's that? Well, there's no record of this being 920 in the provincial records, nor has it ever been signed as A-920. On the other hand, most sources agree that this is secretly an Autoroute, and it almost seems like they all go back to quoting each other with no definitive beginning. Trying to make sense of this muddle, my best guess is that QC 201 was planned as A-920 along Blvd. Msgr-Langlois, and was constructed with full access control west of the Fleuve St.-Laurent crossing out of convenience, but the necessary upgrades along the rest of the route toward what was then A-30 (now A-530) never happened, so the Autoroute was never designated. In my theory, the proposition of 920 got turned into a factoid because some freeway had already been built.
Can't tell if this dam is for power generation or just tidal/floodgates, but it's south of QC 201 as it crosses the western channel of the St. Lawrence River to Grande-Île on "A-920."
Prenez une bouchée de signe! QC 201 NB on the wrong side of the river with A-20 EB.
An alternate view from the east side.
