The Municipalité régionale de comté (MRC) d’Argenteuil wants the Québec government to rapidly implement measures to make Autoroute 50 safer.
There have been additional serious and fatal collisions on the highway in recent months. On April 10, MRC d’Argenteuil council adopted a resolution requesting the Ministère des transports du Québec (MTQ) increase the level of safety on the highway. The MRC demands these additional measures be taken before the multi-year project of twinning the highway is complete.
Since 2017, the MRC d’Argenteuil has increased its requests to the MTQ in order to raise awareness of the dangerous conditions on Autoroute 50. The majority of the route is currently on two lanes and divided by a painted double line.
The MRC would like to see high-tension guardrails installed between lanes in the most dangerous sections. The guardrails were installed as a pilot project on a two-lane section of the highway in Gatineau in 2020 and offer increased protection against head-on collisions.
In 2023, following the Québec government’s announcement that it will increase the number of photo radar devices on roads across the province, the MRC d’Argenteuil asked the authorities to consider Autoroute 50 as one of the new locations as a way of decreasing speed and collisions.
The MRC d’Argenteuil also believes there are significant gaps in lighting along several sections of Autoroute 50 which contribute to compromising safety. Also, the MRC wants the police presence on Autoroute 50 to increase so speeding is brought under control.
