MileCheckOf all the places MileCheck is headed, Quebec might be the most natural fit — because Quebec, unlike most of Canada, actually posts physical kilometre markers. The province’s transport ministry (the MTQ) plants small green repères kilométriques along its autoroutes and routes: little roadside markers counting the kilometres, posted every 2 km on every autoroute. If you know how to read an American mile marker, you already know how to read one — you just count in kilometres and read the signs in French. Here’s the system.
The markers themselves
A repère kilométrique is a compact green marker that reads top-down: route designation up top, kilometre value below it. Watch the shoulder on any autoroute and they tick past every two kilometres. They serve exactly the purpose mile markers serve in the States — when you break down, when you call in a collision, when the tow dispatcher asks where you are, the answer is the autoroute number and the nearest kilometre. On top of that, Quebec numbers its exits by kilometre, the same convention Ontario uses: the exit number is the kilometre it sits at, so subtracting two exit numbers gives you the distance between them.
Autoroutes: the A-network
Quebec’s freeway network is the autoroute system, signed with an A-prefix. The workhorses:
- A-20 is the St. Lawrence corridor — the main run from Montreal through Quebec City’s south shore and on toward Rivière-du-Loup, following the river the whole way. It’s the spine of intercity driving in the province.
- A-40 crosses Montreal as the Métropolitaine — the elevated expressway locals love to hate — and continues along the north shore of the St. Lawrence toward Quebec City.
- A-15 runs north–south: up to the Laurentians and their ski country, and south to the US border, where it hands off to I-87 and the road to New York.
- A-10 heads southeast out of Montreal toward Sherbrooke and the Eastern Townships — the other big weekend-country run.
Speed limits on the autoroutes are 100 km/h, and everything about the network — distances, exits, the repères — runs on kilometres.
Routes: the numbered two-lanes
Below the autoroutes sit Quebec’s routes, numbered 399 and below. The famous one is Route 132 — the longest highway in Quebec — which follows the south shore of the St. Lawrence and then loops the entire Gaspé Peninsula, hugging the coastline through fishing villages and past Percé Rock. Out there, between towns, the kilometre markers are doing real work: long stretches of the Gaspé loop have no landmarks a dispatcher would recognize, and the repère is the location. The same goes for Route 138 on the opposite shore, which runs the Côte-Nord northeast from Quebec City — a long, sparsely serviced coastal road where the distance between towns keeps growing the further you drive.
Winter tires are the law
One rule out-of-province drivers get surprised by: Quebec requires winter tires on passenger vehicles registered in the province, from December 1 through March 15 — the only place in North America with a blanket mandate like it. Visitors’ vehicles registered elsewhere aren’t covered by the letter of the law, but the rule exists because Quebec winter driving genuinely demands it. If you’re heading up in January on all-seasons, the province is politely telling you something.
Reading the signs: French first
Quebec’s highway signage is French-first, and a little vocabulary goes a long way. The big one is SORTIE — exit. When the overhead sign says “SORTIE 138,” that’s Exit 138, at kilometre 138. Nord, sud, est, ouest are the compass directions on the route shields. Most of the rest of the signage leans on symbols rather than words, so it travels well — but knowing SORTIE, and knowing the exit number is a kilometre count, covers most of what an out-of-province driver needs.
Winter, and Québec 511
Quebec winters are serious — heavy snowfall, whiteouts along the open river corridors, and freeze-thaw ice that keeps the MTQ’s plow fleet busy from November into April. The province’s road-condition service is Québec 511, which reports closures, work zones, and winter driving conditions by route and location. As everywhere, the reports reference the road the way the road references itself: autoroute, direction, kilometre.
And when you’re the one making the call — a breakdown on the A-20 at night, a collision ahead on Route 132 — the repères are what you report. Highway, direction, nearest kilometre marker or SORTIE number: that’s the whole message, and it’s a precise one, because the physical marker you just passed pins you to within two kilometres. It’s the same habit American drivers build with mile markers, translated into metric.
What this means in MileCheck
MileCheck’s whole job is telling you exactly where you are in the reference system your road actually uses. In the US that’s the mile marker; in Quebec it’s the repère kilométrique — and Quebec km-post support is coming to MileCheck in an upcoming update, alongside Ontario. When it lands, the app will show your live position as route plus kilometre — A-20 · KM 96-style — matching the little green markers on the shoulder and the language Québec 511 and every dispatcher in the province already speak.
Keep reading
Next door: Kilometre markers in Ontario · British Columbia · Alberta · Nova Scotia · Northwest Territories · New York · Vermont · Maine
Essentials: What to tell 911 on the highway · How to find your mile marker · All provinces & territories