Unlike the more direct Autoroute 20, which it shadows from Longueuil to Sainte-Luce, Route 132 takes a more scenic route which goes through many historic small towns. Until the connection between Rivière-du-Loup and Rimouski is completed, this highway provides a link between the two sections of Autoroute 20. At Rivière-du-Loup, the Trans-Canada Highway continues south on Autoroute 85 to Edmundston, New Brunswick. This eastern section of the highway, from Rivière-du-Loup towards Gaspé, was the former Route 6, until the early 1970s realignment of route numbers into a grid.
At Sainte-Flavie, the highway splits and one branch turns south following the valley of the Matapédia River to reach the New Brunswick border near Campbellton, joining New Brunswick Route 11, a major highway along that province's eastern coast. The other branch continues east to follow the coast of the Gaspé peninsula and eventually rejoin the other branch at Matapédia. The total length of this loop is over 930 km.
Between Candiac and Varennes, the highway overlaps various current and former Quebec Autoroutes and can be considered a continuous autoroute by itself, as it runs along the Saint Lawrence River through most of this section. Highway 132 joins Autoroute 15 in Candiac at its Exit 42 and overlaps it until Exit 53 (on the other side Exit 75 of Autoroute 20), in Brossard, where Autoroute 15 separates onto Champlain Bridge. There, Highway 132 begins its overlap with Autoroute 20 until Boucherville, where Autoroute 20 splits off onto Autoroute Jean-Lesage. From that point, Highway 132 continues to the east of Boucherville as a four-lane expressway formerly known as Autoroute 430 and downgrades to a two-lane highway in Varennes. The section of Highway 132 that ovelaps Autoroute 15 & Autroute 20 was named Autoroute René-Lévesque.[3]
A-10 exit 6; east end of A-15 concurrency; west end of A-20 concurrency; eastbound signed as exit 53; westbound signed as exit 75; exit numbers follow A-20
Signed as exits 89-N (north) and 89-E (east); east end of A-20 concurrency; A-25 / A-20 west exit 90; A-25 southern terminus; Trans-Canada Highway follows A-25 north / A-20 east (unsigned from R-132)