Montreal

Montreal or Montréal1 (pronounced in Canadian English, in standard French, and {{IPA |/mɒM1;ɾeal/}} in Quebecois French) is the second largest city in Canada. According to the most recent Canadian census (2001), the city itself has 1,812,723 inhabitants while 3,426,350 people live in the Greater Montreal Area (Statistics Canada, 2001). {{ref|populationestimate}}{{ref|gma}} It is the largest city and primary economic centre of the province of Quebec, of which it constitutes an administrative region.

Transportation

Montreal is a transportation hub for eastern Canada, with well-developed air, road, rail, and maritime links to the rest of Canada, as well as the United States and Europe.

Related Topics:
United States - Europe

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Metro

The Montreal Metro was inaugurated in 1966 in time for the Expo 67 World's Fair held in the city the following year. Montreal is also served by a commuter rail system, which is managed and operated by the Agence métropolitaine de transport.

Related Topics:
Montreal Metro - 1966 - Expo 67 - World's Fair - Commuter rail - Agence métropolitaine de transport

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The metro was constructed after the Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau. He also brought the Olympics in Montreal in 1976, adding a metro station in the Olympic Stadium.

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Airports

Montreal has two international airports, although only one is currently open for passenger flights. Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (formerly Dorval Airport, the name most locals still use) in the City of Dorval serves all commercial passenger traffic. To the north of the city is Montréal-Mirabel International Airport in Mirabel, which was envisioned as Montreal's primary airport but which now serves only cargo flights.

Related Topics:
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport - Dorval - Montréal-Mirabel International Airport - Mirabel

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Roads

Like many major cities, Montreal has a problem with vehicular traffic, especially from off-island suburbs such as Laval on Île Jésus, and Longueuil on the southeastern shore. The width of the Saint Lawrence River has made the construction of fixed links to the southeastern shore expensive and difficult. Accordingly, there are only four road bridges (plus one road tunnel, two railway bridges, and a metro line), whereas the Rivière des Prairies is spanned by eight road bridges (six to Laval and two to the north shore).

Related Topics:
Laval - Île Jésus - Longueuil - Laval

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The island of Montreal is a hub for the Quebec Autoroute system, and is served by Quebec Autoroutes A-10, A-15, A-13, A-20, A-25, A-40, A-520, and A-720. Many of these Autoroutes are frequently congested at rush-hour, and make deplacements in and around the city during this time difficult.

Related Topics:
A-10 - A-15 - A-13 - A-20 - A-25 - A-40 - A-520 - A-720

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Since Montreal is on an island, the directions used in the city plan do not precisely correspond with compass directions, as they are oriented to the geography of the island. North and south are defined on an axis roughly perpendicular to the St. Lawrence River and the Rivière des Prairies: North is towards the Rivière des Prairies, and south is towards the St. Lawrence. East and west directions are defined as roughly parallel to the St. Lawrence River (which flows southwest to northeast) and the Rivière des Prairies. East is downstream, and west is upstream.

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Saint Lawrence Boulevard divides Montreal into east and west sectors. Streets that lie on both sides of Saint Lawrence Boulevard are divided into two parts, which have Est (East) or Ouest (West) appended to their names. Streets that lie on only one side of The Main (Saint Lawrence Boulevard) do not generally contain a direction in their names. Address numbering begins at one at Saint Lawrence Boulevard. East of it, numbers increase to the east, while west of it, numbers increase to the west. On north-south streets, house numbers begin at the St. Lawrence River and increase to the north. Odd numbers are on the east or north sides of the street, with even numbers on the west or south sides. Numbered streets generally run north and south, and the street numbers increase to the east. The municipalities annexed to Montreal in 2002 do not follow this system, except for Verdun and Montreal North.

Related Topics:
Saint Lawrence Boulevard - 2002 - Verdun - Montreal North

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According to the rules of the Commission de toponymie du Québec, the French-language form of street names is the only official one, and is to be used in all languages: e.g. chemin de la Côte-des-Neiges; rue Sainte-Catherine; côte du Beaver Hall. Most English speakers, however, use English generic equivalents such as "street" or "road", as do English-language media such as the Montreal Gazette. Officially bilingual boroughs have the right to use such names in official contexts, such as on street signs. In the past, a number of streets had both English and French names, such as "avenue du Parc" or "Park Avenue", "rue de la Montange" or "Mountain Street", "rue Saint-Jacques" or "Saint James Street". Some of these names are still in common colloquial use in English, and perpetuated by the tourism industry. Many streets incorporate an English specific name into French, such as "chemin Queen Mary", "rue University", "avenue McGill College". There are also a few cases where two names are official, such as "chemin du Bord-du-Lac/Lakeshore Road". Ironically many francophones have resisted the change to some French street designations; in the Verdun area, "rue de l'Église" street is referred to as "rue Church".

Related Topics:
Montreal Gazette - Francophones - Verdun

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In English, the pre-Francization names are still commonly used, thus, although only the French is 'official', in English one often hears names such as Park Avenue, Mountain Street, Saint Lawrence Boulevard, Pine Avenue, Saint John's Boulevard etc. Canada Post accepts the French specific with English generic, as in "de la Montagne Street" or "du Parc Avenue", although many such forms are never used in speaking. Another anomaly is René Lévesque Boulevard. Once called "Dorchester", it was renamed for Quebec nationalist René Lévesque. However many Anglophones still refer to it as "Dorchester."

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It is useful to note that, in Montreal as in other cities, the generic is usually omitted in either language, so one would simply talk of Park (or Du Parc), Mountain (or Montagne), Saint Lawrence (or Saint Laurent), University, McGill College, Doctor Penfield, or Fairmount.

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