Montreal Road Conditions and Driving Weather

3 current reports on the interstates around Montreal. The 2 most serious are listed below. Always check with Québec 511 before setting off.

• Lanes blocked

  Bridge maintenance and reconstruction

  Between Vaudreuil-Dorion and Senneville/Montreal, on the Île-aux-Tourtes Bridge. Between 12:01 a.m. and 10 a.m. - 3 lanes, towards Montreal (EAST) and 2 lanes, towards Vaudreuil-Dorion (WEST). Between 12 p.m. and 10 p.m. - 3 lanes, WESTBOUND and 2 lanes, EASTBOUND. At all times: - Heavy vehicles prohibited from using the right-hand lane. - Overloaded vehicles prohibited

  QC • Ongoing

• Lanes blocked

  Road reconfiguration

  Between the Chemin du Fer-à-Cheval in Sainte-Julie and the Arthur-Branchaud Bridge in Beloeil. EASTBOUND. Reserved lane closed, 2 lanes open at all times. Traffic on diverted roads. Lane width: 3.3 meters

  QC • Until Nov 30, 11:59 PM

Routes out of Montreal

The five ways out of the city that matter in winter, with the distance and the clear-road time measured over openrouteservice, and what each one does to you when the weather turns.

• East on Autoroute 20 to Drummondville and Quebec City — 260 km, about 3 h 20 min on a clear road. The South Shore autoroute: the Champlain Bridge, then the open farmland past Saint-Hyacinthe and Drummondville where blowing snow has produced the province's biggest pile-ups, and the Pierre-Laporte bridge into Quebec City.
• East on Autoroute 40 to Trois-Rivières — 162 km, about 2 h 40 min on a clear road. The Métropolitaine across the island — the busiest road in the province — then the Félix-Leclerc along the north shore of the St. Lawrence, where the river fog puts ice on a dry road.
• West on Autoroute 40 and Highway 417 to Ottawa — 201 km, about 2 h 25 min on a clear road. Out past Vaudreuil and Rigaud to the Ontario line, where the winter tire law stops and the 417 begins; the same freezing rain on both sides of it.
• North on Autoroute 15 to Saint-Jérôme and the Laurentians — 129 km, about 1 h 50 min on a clear road. Over the Rivière des Prairies and up the Laurentian Autoroute to the ski country, where the snow is deeper and drier than the city's and the Friday-night traffic meets it.
• South on Autoroute 15 to the US border at Lacolle — 69 km, about 1 h 5 min on a clear road. Across the Champlain Bridge and down the flat South Shore to I-87: the road of the February 2020 pile-up at La Prairie, some 200 vehicles in a whiteout.

What makes winter driving hard in Montreal

Freezing rain more than anywhere else. Montréal-Trudeau records 10.6 days of freezing rain between November and March on Environment and Climate Change Canada's 1981–2010 normals — more than any other station on this site, twice Toronto's — because the St. Lawrence valley pools cold air under the warm fronts that ride up it from the south. The ice storm of January 1998 is the extreme; an ordinary winter has several mornings when the Métropolitaine and the bridges are glazed.

And a lot of snow: 210 cm a year on 59 days, twice Toronto's, with 11 cm on the ground on an average January day and a January that averages −9.7 °C with 23 days below freezing. The city moves it rather than melts it — loading 15 cm of snow off the streets takes a minimum of four days and four nights — so a storm's effect on the streets lasts most of a week.

The South Shore pile-ups. Autoroutes 15 and 20 south and east of the city cross flat, open farmland where blowing snow takes the visibility in seconds: on 19 February 2020 some 200 vehicles collided on Autoroute 15 at La Prairie in a whiteout, killing two, and Autoroute 20 near Saint-Hyacinthe has closed for pile-ups of dozens of vehicles more than once since. The autoroutes and the bridges are the ministry's and are reported on Québec 511; the streets are the City's.

Snow and ice by month in Montreal

Thirty-year normals from Environment and Climate Change Canada's station at Montréal-Trudeau International Airport, 16 km from the city centre. Averages for 1981–2010; a normal month, not this month.

Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Climate Normals 1981–2010, station MONTREAL/PIERRE ELLIOTT TRUDEAU INTL A (7025250), 36 m, through the MSC GeoMet API.

Municipal snow clearing in Montreal

The City of Montréal works in three stages. Salt and gravel go down as soon as streets and sidewalks become slippery; plowing begins as soon as 2.5 cm of snow is on the ground; and loading — the trucks that carry the snow away to the disposal sites — begins from 10 to 15 cm. In ideal conditions, collecting 15 cm of snow from the whole city takes a minimum of four days and four nights, longer if more falls meanwhile. The autoroutes and the bridges are the Ministère des Transports'.

Parking bans

When the forecast calls for 15 cm or more, signs go up prohibiting parking on the right-hand side of the street for the loading operation and for emergency vehicles, with the left-hand side reserved for narrow-street sticker holders from 7 pm to 9 am. The 311 Montréal app — the City's INFO-Neige — shows which streets are being cleared and when to move the car; a car left in the way is ticketed and towed.

The current plan, the map of routes and any ban in force are on montreal.ca, snow removal ↗, which is where this section was read.

Provincial rules that apply in Montreal

Quebec is the one province with a winter tire law that applies to everyone registered there: from December 1 to March 15 every passenger vehicle registered in Québec, rental cars included, must be on tires carrying the three-peaked mountain and snowflake pictogram or on studs, and the fine for not being is $200 to $300. A vehicle registered outside Québec — an Ontario or a US plate — is exempt.

The full rule, with its sources, is on the Quebec page. What is closed right now is on Québec 511 ↗.

Related roads

Montreal Winter Driving FAQ

Do I need winter tires to drive into Montreal from Ontario or the US?

Not by law: Québec's winter tire rule, December 1 to March 15, applies to vehicles registered in Québec, and a car registered in Ontario, New York or Vermont is exempt. A car rented in Montreal is registered in Québec and must have them. The roads are the same for both — 210 cm of snow a year and eleven freezing-rain days.

Why does Montreal get so much freezing rain?

The St. Lawrence valley: cold air pools in it, warm fronts ride over it from the south, and rain falls into air below zero. Montréal-Trudeau averages 10.6 freezing-rain days between November and March on the 1981–2010 normals, more than any other station on this site and twice Toronto's. The bridges and the elevated Métropolitaine glaze first.

How long does snow removal take in Montreal?

Plowing starts at 2.5 cm and loading — trucking the snow away — at 10 to 15 cm; in ideal conditions collecting 15 cm from the whole city takes a minimum of four days and four nights. When 15 cm or more is forecast, signs prohibit parking on the right-hand side, and the 311 Montréal app says when to move the car.

How long is Montreal to Quebec City in winter?

About 260 km and 3 h 20 min on a clear road by Autoroute 20 as openrouteservice measures it, city hall to city hall — or by Autoroute 40 on the north shore. The open stretch past Saint-Hyacinthe and Drummondville is where blowing snow closes the 20, and Québec 511's snow-covered or ice-covered is the signal.

Which Montreal highways close in winter?

Autoroutes 15 and 20 on the South Shore, for whiteout pile-ups on the open farmland — some 200 vehicles on the 15 at La Prairie on 19 February 2020 — and the bridges and the Métropolitaine for ice and crashes. On the island itself the first snowfall of the season is the worst day: 20 vehicles piled up on Autoroute 19 at the Papineau-Leblanc bridge on 9 November 2025 in the first snow of the winter.