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Boulevard Maloney is one of Gatineau's main commercial roads. It starts at Autoroute 50 via an incomplete interchange and ends at the boundary with the former city of Masson-Angers. It is also known as Route 148. However, one may notice a blue shield sign of the highway on the westbound lane at Boulevard Gréber even if it is not the highway itself as the western portion previous terminated at Maloney before more extensions (as a by-pass for the Gatineau sector) towards Masson-Angers were made in 1986 [1] (and eventually the connection with the eastern segment in Lachute in 2010). Route 148 continues further east towards Buckingham and further east to Laval. Prior to the construction of A-50, was the main roadway through the urban community towards Montreal, the Papineau region and the Laurentides.
Contents
East/West arterial
This Road has a Western Section called Boulevard Maloney Ouest and another called Boulevard Maloney Est. Rue Main is the dividing arterial of the Ouest-Est section. Addresses are climbing towards the west and towards the east of this street.
Features
Most of the road is filled with numerous big-box stores, strip malls or other commercial businesses. Near Boulevard Gréber in the western end of this road, Les Promenades Gatineau, the National Capital Region's second largest shopping mall which is home to Simons, Librarie Renaud-Bray, Sports Experts, Costco, Hudson's Bay and many more stores. There are other small malls, big box stores, and strip plazas all along the road. Stores (not necessairly all on Maloney) includes SuperC, Walmart, Canadian Tire, Loblaws, Provigo, Metro, Jean Coutu, Simons, Winners, The Bay, Costco, Maxi, Uniprix, Toys "R" Us, Best Buy, Brault et Martineau, Linen Chest, The Home Depot & Bureau en Gros.
The route is also home to several car dealerships such as Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota & Chrysler. It also has a cinema theater called Cinema 9 along with a Deli Chenoys restaurant.
There is also an important Pulp and paper mill owned by Abitibi-Bowater located at the crossing of Boulevard Maloney and Rue Main.
Speed Limits
Speed limit on this road is mostly 70 km/h with 4 lanes of traffic. There are some sections which has a speed limit of 50 km/h while at its eastern end the speed limit jumps to 90 km/h as it enters a rural area between the former cities of Gatineau and Masson-Angers. However, especially in the Gatineau sector, the flow is much faster.
Commuter Route
The route itself is one of the most important commuter routes in the old city of Gatineau as it links one end of the sector to another. Communities located alongside the route includes : Les Promenades, Saint-Richard (near Montee Paiement), Saint-Maria Goretti (near Labrosse) and Cheval Blanc (near Lorrain).
It also provides an easy access to Highway 50 towards downtown Gatineau and Ottawa. Often due to the importance of this route, traffic tie-ups and congestion can occur particularly near the access to the 50.
Rapibus
It is also expected that the Rapibus, STO's busway, will travel on beside of the railroad right of way that is located on the north side of this road. The project is expected to be completed by 2012 and will include nearby the road, La Cite, La Gappe, Greber and Gouin stations. Major construction may happen all around the area, which will likely cause major traffic issues closer to the access to Autoroute 50.
Sports Complex
Also, a new sports complex is expected to be built and completed by 2010 alongside nearby Cégep de l'Outaouais Felix-Leclerc campus. The complex was planned several years before but various issues and delays pushed back the project which is expected to be opened before the start of the 2010 Quebec Games in which the city of Gatineau won the rights to host the event.