A new semi-detached home near Candiac may have caught your eye, but one question comes before all the others: how far is the drive? BÉAcité's sales office is in Sainte-Julie, at 435 Geoffrion Street, and the trip from Candiac to Sainte-Julie crosses a good part of the South Shore. Better to know before you book a visit.

As the crow flies, Candiac city hall and Geoffrion Street are 28.2 km apart. By road, the open-source OSRM route planner counts 40.3 km, for about 34 minutes. That's a theoretical time with no traffic at all, so expect noticeably longer at rush hour.

Below you'll find the route, how it varies with your starting point, what the train and the bus can realistically do, and how to plan your visit to the model home.

From Candiac to Sainte-Julie: how far is it from your neighbourhood?

Candiac is compact (17.27 km², according to the 2021 Census), so the gap between areas stays small. Again, without traffic:

City hall (100 Boulevard Montcalm Nord): 40.3 km, about 34 minutes;
Montcalm-Candiac park-and-ride (45 Boulevard Montcalm Nord): 40.2 km, about 34 minutes;
Square Candiac, the new district in the Montcalm downtown area: 40.7 km, about 34 and a half minutes;
Complexe Roméo-V.-Patenaude (135 Chemin Haendel): 39.4 km, about 33 minutes;
Candiac train station, in the south end near the A-30: 36.6 km, about 31 minutes.

The closer you start to Highway 30, the shorter the drive: from the station, you save almost 4 km.

The route, step by step

The fastest way sticks almost entirely to highways. From city hall:

Take Boulevard Montcalm Nord, then Boulevard de l'Industrie, to Highway 15 / Route 132 (about 1.6 km).
Leave at exit 42 ("30 Est, 132 Ouest: Sorel-Tracy, Saint-Constant, Sainte-Catherine") and follow the A-930 for about 2.2 km.
Drive east on the Autoroute de l'Acier, the A-30, for about 24.4 km.
Take the ramp marked "20: Montréal, Québec", then the A-20 East for about 6.3 km.
Get off at exit 105 (Route 229), then follow Rue Bernard-Pilon, Montée des Quarante-Deux and Avenue des Bâtisseurs to Geoffrion Street.

From the train station area

If you live near the station, there's no need to head up to Boulevard Montcalm: Avenue des Chênes, Boulevard Jean-Leman and Boulevard de Sardaigne take you straight to the A-930. The city itself describes the TOD district around the station as sitting at the junction of highways 15, 30 and 930, right where this route begins.

Across the South Shore, with no bridge

This drive runs along the South Shore from west to east. In order, it goes through Candiac, Saint-Philippe, La Prairie, Brossard, Longueuil, Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville and Boucherville before entering Sainte-Julie. It doesn't cross the St. Lawrence at any point: you stay on the south side from start to finish.

There is an alternative: head up Highway 15 and Route 132 along the river, through La Prairie, Brossard and Saint-Lambert, then pick up the A-20 East in Longueuil. It works out to about 42.7 km and 39 minutes without traffic. It's still longer than going by the A-30: an alternative, not the shortest way.

Near exit 105, follow the signs for the Club de golf La Vallée-du-Richelieu, then the BÉAcité project signs.

The train and the bus: the honest picture

Candiac station is the end of the line for the exo 14 commuter train. That train heads west, through Delson, Saint-Constant, Sainte-Catherine and LaSalle, to Lucien-L'Allier station in downtown Montreal, in 40 to 43 minutes, on weekdays only. It doesn't go to Sainte-Julie, which has no train station. If you ride it every day, that's a habit you would give up in Vilamo.

By bus, no route links the two towns directly. According to exo's official schedules, a weekday trip is possible through the Brossard terminus: the 454 express from Candiac, then route 600 to the Sainte-Julie terminus, then the T34 taxibus, booked in advance, to the "des Pionniers / des Bâtisseurs" stop, a few steps from Geoffrion Street. Worked out for a Wednesday: leave at 6:10 a.m., arrive at 7:36 a.m., about 1 hour 26 minutes and three vehicles. Those connections haven't been checked on the ground, and Candiac's express buses only run toward Brossard in the morning, so a midday visit isn't possible that way. On weekends, there's no connection at all.

In other words, it isn't a practical option. In the 2021 Census, taken in May during the pandemic, 89.6% of Candiac commuters travelled by car and 6.1% by public transit. For BÉAcité, driving is the realistic choice.

What the drive means day to day

People in Candiac are used to driving. The same census shows that 61.4% of Candiac commuters worked outside the Roussillon regional county municipality, that only 19.0% worked in their own town, and that 37.9% spent 30 minutes or more getting to work. If your job is in Montreal or farther east on the South Shore, a new starting point will play out differently; it's worth weighing against your own commute.

The kind of home matters too. If you're comparing with a row house in the TOD district or Square Candiac, our article on the townhouse or semi-detached home near Candiac puts the two side by side.

Touring the model home, from Candiac to Sainte-Julie

The sales office is at 435 Geoffrion Street. From Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., it's open to drop-in visitors; in the evening it's by appointment, as it is on Saturday and Sunday, and since there's no weekend bus, you'll need the car on those days.

The four turnkey homes, at 405, 408, 423 and 435 Geoffrion Street, can be toured by booking with sales director Eddy Guessous: 514-812-9633, by phone or text, or ventes@beacite.com. Since the drive is long, gather your questions and ask to see several homes on the same day.

Before you head out, think about whether you want a finished home or one still to be built: our article on the pre-construction or turnkey home near Candiac will help you prepare for the meeting.

Conclusion

From Candiac to Sainte-Julie, plan on about 40 km and half an hour or more on the road, mostly along the Autoroute de l'Acier, with no river to cross. Candiac's train goes to Montreal, not to Vilamo, and the bus only offers a long weekday trip. The simplest approach is to make the drive once, on a weekday between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., or by appointment in the evening or on a weekend, and judge for yourself.

From Candiac to Sainte-Julie via the A-30: the route, the times and the visit