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Old Posted May 3, 2018, 5:35 PM
lio45 lio45 is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Quebec
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 1overcosc View Post
The fact that the "south shore" of Montreal is actually east of Montreal, not south, for the most part.
Even my dad, who grew up in Montreal, was skeptical when I mentioned that the 40, a freeway deemed to be "east-west", is, on the island, actually totally north/south in orientation for a while. I mean he knew, like everyone, that it was going northeast and not anywhere close to due east, but he didn't realize it was going true north in places. Similarly, I recall once a conversation with my cousin who lives in Brossard, he said something like "this place X is west of place Y", and I had the impulse to say "you mean south of place Y", and he said, well, yes, but that's the same thing here. Roads in Brossard are deemed to go west and east when they are actually instead going north and south. (Freeway 30, Taschereau, 132, etc.)

However it's still generally true that the South Shore is due south of Montreal, too... it's just it's also southeast and east, the same way that the North Shore is also, in addition to being north of the city, northwest and west of it.

South Shore cities like Delson and Ste-Catherine are actually south of Mtl, while North Shore ones like Terrebonne and Mascouche are north of it.

Places like Varennes and St-Eustache are still considered to be on their respective shores even though as you point out they're geographically way more "east" and "west" of the city.

In Quebec, as you probably know already, the River is deemed to be flowing west->east for basic geographical purposes. This is furthest from reality on the Montreal to Sorel segment, so Montreal East and Brossard are among the places in the provinces that are the most "out of whack" with actual geography with their East/West/North/South numbered roads and freeways.
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