Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec

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Vaudreuil-Dorion is a city (ville) in southwestern Quebec in the County of Vaudreuil-Soulanges on the Lac des Deux Montagnes ("Lake of two mountains"). The Lake is on the Ottawa River ("Riviere des Outaouais"); one of its bays is called the Bay of Vaudreuil. Vaudreuil is across the lake from Oka, Quebec, site of the Oka Crisis.

It is an outer suburb of Montreal, located immediately west of the Island of Montreal and about 50 kilometres from the center of the city. It is the largest municipality in the county, and is currently experiencing high population growth as farmland is converted to residential areas for suburban dwellers. A larger population has also led a rapid increase in commercial development typical of North American suburban areas (such as grocery and hardware stores, fast food outlets, and gas stations).

On Friday, October 7th, 1966, a bus load of teenagers were headed to a dance in Hudson, Quebec when the bus was hit by a train. The accident took 20 lives and left 24 injured. The Canadian National Railway freight train hit a school bus at the main level crossing in Dorion/Vaudreuil, Quebec, 19 students died. Witnesses said that they saw children playing with the crossing gates just before the 3 locomotive-100 car freight train went through town. The 19-year-old bus driver was also killed. The bus had stopped at the crossing waiting for an eastbound train; when it had passed, he pulled forward into the path of an westbound train traveling at full speed. The disaster made news throughout the world. Questions still remain as to the cause of the accident

Vaudreuil-Dorion is the point of intersection for Canada's two busiest highways: Highway 401/Autoroute 20 (connecting the "Quebec City-Windsor Corridor") and the Trans-Canada Highway.

According to the 2001 Statistics Canada Census:

Population: 21 176 (as of 2005)
% Change (1996 – 2001): 7.9
Dwellings: 8,078
Area (km²): 72.47
Density (persons per km²): 274.9

Communities

Dorion
L'Anse Vaudreuil
Pointe-Cavagnal
Vaudreuil

	North: L'Île-Cadieux, Vaudreuil-sur-le-Lac
West: Rigaud, Hudson, Saint-Lazare	Vaudreuil-Dorion	East: Montreal, Pincourt, Ville-Ile-Perrot, Notre-Dame-de-L'Ile-Perrot, Terrasse-Vaudreuil
	South: Les Cèdres, Pointe-des-Cascades

External link

http://www.ville.vaudreuil-dorion.qc.ca

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