Funding announced to complete Team Gushue Highway

Roundabout corridor and realignment of section of Brookfield Road required

The highway that goes to nowhere is finally going to be completed.

The provincial and federal governments announced $30 million to complete the final phase of the Team Gushue Highway Friday, June 2, with half coming from the feds and half from the province.

The project, which has cost over $65 million so far, will connect the highway to Pitts Memorial Drive via a series of roundabouts and a realignment of a section of Brookfield Road, and is slated to be completed by 2027.

Mount Pearl North MHA Lucy Stoyles was on hand for the announcement, which she said was a "pipe dream" when she was first elected to Mount Pearl city council 25 years ago.

“Dreams do come true, and this is a prime example of a dream coming true,” Stoyles said.

BUILDING CONNECTIONS

With the first phase of the highway costing $13 million and the second phase coming in at $58.6 million, this phase will bring the total cost of the highway to just over $100 million.

Of that amount, approximately $37.5 million was and will be covered by the federal government, leaving about $63 million coming from the provincial coffers.

St. John’s South-mount Pearl MP Seamus O’regan was also on hand for the announcement, saying the investment in the transportation link will have an impact for many in the region, including less congestion on city streets, safer roads and more space for users of active transportation.

“Communities are built on the connections between them,” he said.

“Familial connections, interpersonal connections, literal physical connections, like the Team Gushue Highway. Strengthening our connections strengthens our communities, not just town and Mount Pearl, but everything from Pouch Cove to Trepassey to Petty Harbour to Carbonear.

“If you make one part of that network better, you make the whole network better. I am proud to be here today and I am some goddamn relieved that something is finally going to happen with that overpass.”

POSITIVE FOR MOUNT PEARL

Mount Pearl Mayor Dave Aker says he sees the announcement as very positive for the people of Mount Pearl and the greater area. Since the second phase of the highway was completed in 2018, the city has seen a significant uptick in traffic on some of its roads, which Aker hopes will be alleviated by the completion of the highway.

“Now we have an opportunity to lighten the load on not only Park Avenue and Smallwood Drive, but I think it’s also going to change the mindset of some of our travellers that originate within the city coming and going to the Admiralty Wood and Newtown areas, those parts of Mount Pearl,” he says.

“Because, once you get on that highway, as Minister O’regan said, there’s only one light at the end near the airport.”

WHY THE DELAY?

According to information provided to the media at the announcement, part of the delay in completing the project was that it didn’t fit eligibility criteria for federal cost-shared programs from 2018 to 2022.

In 2022, changes were made to the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP), which allowed the flexibility to advance the project.