Autoroute 25 (or A-25, also called Autoroute Louis-H.-La Fontaine in Montreal) is an Autoroute in the Lanaudière region of Quebec. It is currently 49 km (30.4 mi) long and services the direct north of Montreal's Metropolitan Area. A-25 has one toll bridge, which is the first modern toll in the Montreal area and one of two overall in Quebec (after being joined by the A-30 toll bridge, which opened in 2012).
Before the Montreal-Laval Extension, a gap existed in A-25 north of the interchange with Autoroute 40. Instead it followed Boulevard Henri-Bourassa to Boulevard Pie-IX, both of which are principal urban arterial roads. Boulevard Pie-IX north of Boulevard Henri-Bourassa was used as a temporary section of Autoroute 25 across the Rivière-des-Prairies to Autoroute 440. From there, A-25 proceeded east with A-440, then continued north and east of Laval.
Autoroute 25 has been extended under a public-private partnership. The 7.2 km section of highway joins the southern part of Autoroute 25 at Boulevard Henri-Bourassa in Montreal's East end and the northern part at Laval'sAutoroute 440. The $207-million project will save some $226 million for the province since a private consortium will assume any cost overruns. A toll bridge using a RFIDtransponderautomatic payment system spans the Rivière des Prairies and costs transponder-owning motorists $3.20 per crossing at peak hours (6-9 AM and 3-6 PM) and $2.24 per crossing the rest of the day. An additional $5.34 in administration fees is charged for motorists without transponders. The road opened on May 21, 2011. The highway has six lanes (three in each direction), while the bridge features three lanes in each direction with one reserved for public transit.
Now that the link between Montreal and Laval is complete, the temporary autoroute section connecting Boulevard Pie-IX to Autoroute 440 lost its A-25 designation. The new route designation for this section is Route 125.
Environmental organizations have raised concerns that the highway extension will lead to an influx of automobiles entering Montreal and increase development pressure on agricultural land in Eastern Laval.[4][5]
