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Montreal Geography Trivia No. 13

Montreal has a lot of north-south axis streets that run the width of the island. Unfortunately, because of obstructions like railways, highways and large properties, many of them are interrupted. Combined with one-way streets, name changes and traffic deviations for the sake of the children, it’s actually difficult to find a street on the east side of the island that you can drive from one side to the other on.

So here’s the question: What is the westernmost street (i.e. closest to the mountain) on the east side of the island (i.e. east of the mountain) that runs uninterrupted in both directions and intersects both Notre-Dame St. and Gouin Blvd.?

UPDATE: Kate and Chris independently come up with the answer: St. Jean Baptiste Blvd. in Montreal-East. Crazy, huh?

There are streets, such as St. Laurent, St. Hubert, Papineau and Viau that go at least one way between Gouin and Notre-Dame. There are others, such as St. Denis and Berri that are split up into different parts (some of them one-way), and there’s Lacordaire/Dickson which changes names.

Give yourself half a point if you guessed Pie-IX, which is two-way its entire length, but doesn’t actually intersect Gouin Blvd. vertically.

The only other street to meet these criteria*: Sherbrooke St., in Pointe-aux-Trembles.

(*This post originally read “this criteria,” a horrible breach of the rules of grammar, especially for a copy editor. My shame will never be overcame.)

See also:

12 Comments

  1. Posted February 18, 2008 at 12:28 pm | Permalink

    I would guess Papineau but it’s probably not western enough.

  2. Posted February 18, 2008 at 12:45 pm | Permalink

    Boulevard Saint-Laurent, no?

  3. Posted February 18, 2008 at 12:53 pm | Permalink

    Oh bugger. Cancel that, the Main’s not in both directions the whole way.

    My actual guess is Papineau.

  4. Posted February 18, 2008 at 1:40 pm | Permalink

    Pie-IX ?

  5. Posted February 18, 2008 at 1:41 pm | Permalink

    Pie IX?

  6. Posted February 18, 2008 at 1:46 pm | Permalink

    Howdy!

    Running both ways in parts would make it Saint Denis. If you’re not too picky about the intersection on Notre Dame it would be Saint Hubert. If you want really and truly two ways AND really and truly intersecting both Gouin and Notre Dame it’s Papineau.

  7. Posted February 18, 2008 at 2:12 pm | Permalink

    All wrong so far:

    St. Laurent, St. Denis and Papineau are one-way in parts.
    Pie-IX doesn’t intersect Gouin Blvd.

  8. Posted February 18, 2008 at 2:13 pm | Permalink

    Papineau, like St. Laurent and St. Denis, is a one-way street for certain stretches (below Rachel), so that can’t be it.

  9. Posted February 18, 2008 at 2:15 pm | Permalink

    I’m going to have to say Pie IX. It’s the only street I can think of that meets both Notre-Dame and Gouin and has traffic in both directions for its entire length.

  10. Posted February 18, 2008 at 2:20 pm | Permalink

    Okay, then, I’m going to throw one out there: Saint-Jean-Baptiste Blvd. on the far east end of the island.

    The only other possibility I can think of is Lacordiere, but that can’t be it because it changes names about halfway down and turns into Dickson Street.

  11. Posted February 18, 2008 at 2:35 pm | Permalink

    OK, either this is a trick question and the answer is “there isn’t one” or it’s Boulevard St-Jean-Baptiste way out in Riviere-des-Prairies where the island’s starting to taper off.

  12. Posted February 18, 2008 at 2:47 pm | Permalink

    Howdy!

    Lacordaire / Dickson? Or if you want only one name Saint Jean Baptiste.

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