Province, feds announce $30M to help get Team Gushue Highway finished

The end of the road is in sight for the Team Gushue Highway.

On Friday, the federal and provincial governments announceda cash injection of $30 million split evenly by Ottawa and Newfoundland and Labrador to finishthe last 3.3 kilometres.

"Since 2018 I have stared at that unfinished overpass by my office like it was the elevator to nowhere in The Simpsons," said St. John's South-Mount Pearl MP Seamus O'Regan on Friday at Friday'sfunding announcement.

"But thankfully today we are going to announce the beginning of the end for the construction of the Team Gushue Highway."

The money will gotowardcompleting the north-south arterial highway route in St. John's and Mount Pearl, first conceptualized about 30 years ago. The final phase will connect the Team Gushue Highway to the Pitts Memorial Drive and Robert E. Howlett Memorial Drive interchange using a roundabout corridor.

Work expected to begin next year, finish in 2027

The highway will also be extended from Topsail Road, which is where itcurrently ends, to Commonwealth Avenue, Brookfield Road and the Heavy Tree Road area.

The work will also include the installation ofdrainage culverts, an overpass and auxiliary access roads, on top of realigning a section of Brookfield Road.

Construction is expected to start in late spring of 2024 and wrap up in 2027.

The completion of the highway is expected to help ease traffic congestion,improve safety and provide better access to St. John's, Mount Pearl and other nearby communities.

"My hope is you'll be able to get from Witless Bay to Florida with only one traffic light, at Major's Path," said O'Regan, also the federal labour minister.

"I think this very important transportation link does a lot more than make it faster for the crowd atLogyBay to get their cabbage at Lester's [Farm]."

We've seen the population increase over the last few years in Newfoundland and Labrador and it's important that we build that infrastructure to support it.- Andrew Furey

The completed highway will improve the lives of people in the region because they'll spend less time driving.

"You can ask the residents of Mount Pearl what it's been like at rush hour since the last segment of the highway opened. It means safer roads and more space for users of active transportation and less noise," he said.

As the province's population grows, said Premier Andrew Furey,its infrastructure needs to grow as well.

"We've seen the population increase over the last few years in Newfoundland and Labrador and it's important that we build that infrastructure to support it," he said.

This announcement is part of $1.4 billion in spending over five years for provincial highway infrastructure.

The arterial highway was first identified in a comprehensive regional development plan more than 50 years ago.

Phase 1 construction beganin 2000 and was completed in 2006, costing $13.2 million. Phase 2 lasted from 2011 to 2018, cost $58.6 million, and opened the Kenmount Road-Topsail Road segment.

The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure spent 2019 to 2020 engaged in external engineering consultation to reassess design plans. The project didn't fit the criteria offederal cost-sharingprograms from 2018 to 2022 period, but in 2022 there were changes to the Canada Infrastructure Program.

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