Chmen du Roi ( Fr. Chemin du Roy - “Royal Road”) is a historic road along the northern coast of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec . The road starts west to Quebec City , its eastern outskirts, and stretches for nearly 250 kilometers to Repantigny (north of Montreal). Most of Chmen-du-Roi today is located near the modern Quebec highway 138 .
History
In 1706, the High Council of New France decided that a road should be built connecting the settlements along the northern coast of the St. Lawrence River . Work began in 1731, led by roadmaster Eustache Lanouiller de Boisclerc , and the road was completed in 1737 . After completion of the work, Chmen-du-Roi had a width of 7.4 meters, more than 280 kilometers in length, and crossed 37 feudal estates - Signoria . Chmen du Roi at that time was the longest road north of the Rio Grande River . The road, which actually became the first "federal highway" of North America, greatly simplified the logistics of New France, accelerated the economic development of Quebec, contributed to the influx of new colonists from France and their development of almost the entire territory along the river. St. Lawrence is about 300 km long. The end of the 1730s became a real golden age for New France. By 1750, the colony actually turned into one long coastal village with a population of about 50,000 people [1] , one fifth of which came from France after the road was put into operation, and 4,000 settled permanently [2] . Depending on the season and weather, the journey from Quebec to Montreal began to take from 4 to 6 days, in the British period it decreased to 2.5 days. According to the description left by Louis Antoine, the Earl of Bougainville, who traveled here in the 1750s, the hotels did not appear on the highway, so, much to the traveler’s surprise, they had to stop right in the houses of local farmers [3] . In spring, many sections of the unpaved road suffered from floods and landslides; therefore, it was most convenient for her to use in the winter.
Notable Facts
In July 1967, Charles de Gaulle rode on the road from Quebec to the International Exhibition in Montreal; the trip was completed by his famous speech “ Long live free Quebec! "( Fr. Vive le Québec libre! ). Especially for the French president, the asphalt of some sections of the road was painted with white paint on the prints of the Bourbon lily of fleur-de-lis [3] .