Quebec Route 143
Route 143 is a north/south highway on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River. Until the mid-1970s when the province decided to renumber all highways other than autoroutes, it was known as Route/Highway 5. Its northern terminus is in Saint-François-du-Lac, at the junction of Route 132, and the southern terminus is in Stanstead, at the border with Vermont where the road continues past the Derby Line–Stanstead Border Crossing as U.S. Route 5 through Derby Line to New Haven, Connecticut.
Route 143 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by Transports Québec | ||||
| Length | 165.8 km (103.0 mi) | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end | US 5 in Derby Line, Vermont | |||
| R-247 in Stanstead A-55 / R-141 in Stanstead-Est R-208 in Hatley R-108 / R-147 in Lennoxville (Sherbrooke) A-10 / R-112 / R-216 in Sherbrooke R-222 in Bromptonville (Sherbrooke) R-249 in Windsor R-116 / R-243 in Richmond R-139 in Saint-Nicéphore (Drummondville) A-20 (TCH) / A-55 / R-122 in Drummondville R-224 in Saint-Bonaventure | ||||
| North end | R-132 in Saint-François-du-Lac | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | Canada | |||
| Province | Quebec | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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Since Autoroute 55 closely parallels Route 143 for most of its length, much commercial traffic chooses the former. However, it is a very busy route and takes much traffic from the border to the Sherbrooke local area. Route 143 closely follows the Saint-François River between Sherbrooke and Ulverton.
The road is often in notoriously poor condition, since its original cement was laid directly on a gravel road in the mid-1920s. It has been extensively resurfaced to the point the pavement is now more than three feet thick in places, but it heaves extensively at every spring thaw.