It's a symbol of the provincial divide between urban and rural, Townie and Bayman and, in oil-rich recent years, some might say boom and bust.
It's been part of countless arguments and orations, debates and disagreements.
It's even been fodder for academics.
And over the next two summers, the cultural landmark that is The Overpass is coming down ... and being replaced.
"I guess some people will talk about it in terms of like the Berlin Wall," jokes Transportation Minister Tom Hedderson. "I don't know if entrepreneurs want to get a piece of it, but that is the proverbial Overpass that's created great rhetoric over the last number of years."
Noting there are no safety deficiencies, Hedderson says the time has come to replace the structure.
Partly because of its age, he explains, but "mainly because it's become functionally deficient."
The Overpass provides a 4.2-metre overhead clearance, which is well below standard.
It also has poor traffic capacity, permitting just two lanes of vehicles above and beneath on increasingly busy roads.
Its replacement will accommodate four lanes on Kenmount Road and six on Topsail Road - two flow-through lanes each way, plus two exits.
Hedderson thinks it'll make a significant difference to traffic flow.
"Right now, we are limited by no matter what we do. It's coming down to two lanes and that's simply not adequate."
The Overpass falls within Paradise and that town's mayor, Ralph Wiseman, is happy to see it being replaced.
He says the improvements have to be done.
"It should move traffic fairly freely."
When that project is completed, Wiseman adds that Paradise intends to improve traffic flow even more by getting rid of the lights motorists use to access the nearby Outer Ring Road.
Hedderson's department will call a tender on the project in the next three weeks.
He hopes the contract will be awarded in time for preliminary work to begin by late August.
By the end of this construction season, the minister expects the outline of the collector lanes to be noticeable.
The Overpass won't be coming down and being replaced until next year.
With thousands driving over and under it daily, the project will no doubt have some commuters concerned about traffic delays.
Hedderson says there will obviously be some disruption, but that a diversion will be put in place in the spring. It'll likely involve the exit lanes off Kenmount and a temporary light system, he explains.
There's been nothing temporary about The Overpass' place in local lore.
Hedderson, who remembers wanting to drive under it as a kid, doesn't expect the new and improved bridge will change that.
"I just got a feeling that by simply taking down that overpass, I'm not going to stop that rhetoric," he laughs.
Given the significance of the structure, he jokingly offers advice to the reporter about the story.
"Don't encourage people to go in and start chipping it away. I can see people with sledgehammers now beating down The Overpass."
sbartlett@thetelegram.com
Thinking beyond The Overpass
Telegram photo illustration. Photo by Keith Gosse/The Telegram
-
Published on
July 19, 2010
- Published on July 20, 2010
-
Steve Bartlett
Big physical changes in store for cultural landmark
It's a symbol of the provincial divide between urban and rural, Townie and Bayman and, in oil-rich recent years, some might say boom and bust.
It's been part of countless arguments and orations, debates and disagreements.
It's even been fodder for academics.
And over the next two summers, the cultural landmark that is The Overpass is coming down ... and being replaced.
- Rate
- Top of the page
Comments
-
- Robin
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:33:03
Gee, Danny must be trying to shore up his votes in Rural NL.
I live in Rural and the overpass can collapse on his head, he'll never get my vote. -
- Newfie
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:33:02
Got a great idea for a make work, excuse me, Employment Enhancement program: All of us outside the Overpass grab a shovel and dig a big trench around Sin John's and let her float to the oil rigs.
Then the rest of us can have our province back. Townies, not worth a plug nickel. -
- Phoebe Tilley
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:33:01
Sadly John Smith is the typical Danny Williams cult follower. Its all up to us in the next Provincial Election. Stand up be counted and for God sake VOTE unless you want more of the same from the little tyrant Danny Castro Williams.
-
- Townie
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:33:01
Huh, I always thought it was the Roaches Line overpass that upset the baymen.
Didn't that used to have flypaper with the sticky side facing west stretched across the highway to catch the baymen so they couldn't get any closer to St. John's? Sneaky little buggers must have cut a hole in it! LOLOL -
- Seamus
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:33:01
Lazy Townies eh? Seems to me if the baymen were any more industrious then the townies then maybe there would be work out there. Sitting around the kitchen table complaining about how you should be allowed to fish hardly makes you a good worker. All Newfoundlanders are equally good at complaining the last time I checked.
-
- David
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:33:00
Great Headline....real eye-catcher.
But instead of an article addressing the complicated and important issue of rural Newfoundland vs. Town, the article is a Townie homage to your Great Wall....
Why would anyone have hoped, for one single moment, anything more from the self-centered St. John's crowd? -
- John
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:33:00
David I am from an outport, but had to give up the fantasy, and move to where I could support myself and my family. i would have loved to stay there, and depend upon the government to bail me out every year, but I just don't agree with the EI lifestyle. My point in my previous comment is that I think it's time to start spending inside the overpass, you know, that place with 8% unemployed, and the majoity of the people.
-
- ³
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:58
Ok, the bottleneck known as 'The Overpass' is upgraded to 4 lanes. Then what ? The CBS Highway is still two lanes. So we move the bottleneck from Kenmount Road to Paradise Road. The traffic will still be backed up to Kenmount Road or the Elizabeth Park shortcuts aka 'The Raceways'. Brilliant (shakes head).
-
- Stop The Racket
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:58
Inside the overpass is the only world Dictator Danny knows anyway so why should anything else matter to him. If the voters outside the overpass made the effort necessary to get out and vote in the next election we might be able to Stop The Racket once and for all. Dont forget Danny got elected with the majority of the smallest voter turn out in the provinces history. So quit bitching and complaining and get off your collective backsides and send Danny Williams a clear message. We are sick of the lies, we are sick of the corruption, we are sick of the cover ups. Then again with the mess Health care is in under Dannys watch being sick is not a good thing either.
-
- Calvin
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:56
Busy Bayman, Carbonear is not out around the Bay.
-
- Sid
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:55
Shouldn't all you whiney baymen be collecting your stamps today instead of bitching so you can sit on your butts for the rest of the year again? Let's face it, that's all you want anyway because if you didn't, your communities wouldn't need those of us inside the overpass to survive.
-
- Nasty Nate
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:54
What diference does King Danny think that will that make? The great dictator needs to relocate some of those cushiony government jobs to the bay and let the lazy townies suffer for awhile.
-
- Pearlian
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:52
People from the Bay should stay outside the overpass and quit taking jobs from people from town!
-
- Saucy Face
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:52
Ah, Nasty Nate is back!! But judging by his usual nonsensical anti Danny remarks, his lobotomy didn't help any.
-
- Saucy Face
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:52
Calvin from Newfoundland writes: Busy Bayman, Carbonear is not out around the Bay.
Great; now they are fighting amongst themselves on who's a real bayman and who's not. -
- Townie
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:52
Newfie from NL writes: Got a great idea for a make work, ..
And there in lies the Baymen's idea of a a great job; collect enough stamps so they can sit on your butt the rest of the year watching Three''s Company LOL -
- Darren
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:52
John Smith, you are realistic, practical and sensible. Disregard the greedy, heartless comments etc. Your position on EI is very respectable. Run for politics and you'll get my vote.
-
- Just curious
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:52
The resident Danny worshiper Bones seems to have vanished and John Smith shows up taking over where Bones left off. Could it be the same gutless wonder? They both sound equally as idiotic. Then again thats the Williams Cult for ya. Blindly follow and worship and never question the master.
-
- Adam
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:52
Nasty Nate from Newfoundland and Labrador writes:? The great dictator needs to relocate some of those cushiony government jobs to the bay ...
What, and actually get up to go to to work on a winter's morning like the rest of us? Be careful there Nasty Nate, if your neighbours out in your welfare village hear you talking treason like that they'll string you up. -
- David
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:51
John: Okay, next.....What parts of the Avalon are less-than-prosperous and would be best to resettle? Then, which neighbourhoods in St. John's don't really live up to your economic expectations?
I guess you just obliviously love to see the price of your house going up while others' lives slowly evaporate.
You really are one smug, small-minded man. -
- Mike Scott
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:51
Wow, relax people. They are upgrading/replacing an overpass that is long overdue. I work in Paradise, and at 4:00pm every week day, I can look out my window and see a logjam of cars driving back into Paradise/CBS. At the same time, Kenmount Road heading into Donovan's is also backed up. With the way the Paradise and CBS are growing and booming, it is about time that this issue was addressed and the roads were made to accommodate the traffic that his increased since the overpass was first built.
-
- Anon
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:50
Townies Vs Baymen don't matter the rest of the country thinks were ALL welfare cases. So shut your traps would ya? Theres baymen just gettin in now from the bays with their fish to feed your townie mouths after 10 or more hours of work. And theres townies in doin paper work to make sure tha t Aliants phone systems operate smoothly and everyone gets service. Yall depend on each other so shut it.
-
- Political Watcher
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:50
I remember a couple of years back when it was first announced that the overpass would be removed; one of the determining factors was the Townie/Bayman divide. What do they think will happen when it is gone? All will change.
This is yet another joke, yes, the traffic must flow freeely but please give a more solid reason other than the division between those on the east side and those on the West side.
It reminds me of a Simpson's episode where an asteroid was heading towards Springfield; well, in the end it turned out to be nothing but the Town's folk method of dealing with it so it doesn't happen again was to tear down the Observatory. I see the same thing here. -
- CL
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:50
This was a staple of the province for many years. Lots of memories around the Overpass - such as people selling vegetables and fish from the back of their trucks.
-
- David
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:50
John Smith:
All the fishermen in this province should have said that when a vast fortune travelled so freely from the outports to Water Street.
Yiour smugness and willful ignorance to rewrite or forget history for your convenience is a real Townie trait. -
- Pleasant Pat
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:49
What a shame, it has been such a colourful overpass.
-
- LA
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:49
John Smith - Everything you have said you have backed with the truth of the situation. You sound educated and have a realistic outlook. I agree with what you have said and your best bet is to probably stop trying to explain yourself to someone (David) that doesn't fully understand life outside his own back garden.
David on the other hand knows nothing more than to call you silly childish names, and I'm sure when he reads this will have one for me too since he knows no better. He's probably just jealous that you had the sense to better yourself and he's still waiting for handouts.
The bottom line is the overpass is a bottleneck that needs upgrading - be grateful that our tax dollars are being used to something that is necessary and that will benefit us. -
- Keith
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:49
@ Bayboy: THE Overpass - the original - was once the point where the TCH crossed over Topsail Road and became Kenmount Road. With the building of the Outer Ring Road, it is no longer part of the TCH. The overpass you refer to is much more visible and has likely supplanted the original in the minds of many as the marker to indicate they are approaching St. John's, but it was built much later.
As you can see from all the comments above, it may have outlived its usefulness as a piece of roadway, but continues to very much serve as a symbol of the divide between urban and rural NL. -
- David
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:48
Actually, after re-reading John smith''s post, it is a real gem.
Everyone in newfoundland should read that one, because it very concisely and accurately encaspulates the mindset of the smug majority of Newfoundlanders who, yes, live in St. John's, towards the rest of us.
We're done with you now, we don't need you, you're an embarrassment, and you're too much trouble. You're doomed.
Smug, selfish, greedy, heartless, narrow-minded jerks. -
- well off and well out
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:47
John Smith is the typical rural person who thinks they've made it when they crawl inside the city walls. As far as I can see, it's still quite possible to make a great living outside of the NEA . Just wondering John, Are you still driving a Car or do you now own a Core ?
-
- James
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:47
So John, based on your argument that government dollars should be directed to where the most population is, you won't be whining if public money is redirected from Newfoundland to the Quebec Ontario corridor.
-
- Pierre Neary
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:47
A new overpass is a great idea. With Minister Hedderson and his colleagues policy of wiping out the rural way of life in NL, this overpass will continue to see a large contingent of people travel over it on their way from around the bay on their way to Paradise.
-
- John
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:45
Look, I'm anything but smug...desparate is a more apt description. The point I am attemting to make is that all I hear about is money for the fishery, money for the out of work mill workers of GFW, money to prop up the mill in Corner Brook, money for the airport in Stephenville, and on and on. Here in St. John's my taxes are going up because the city has to pay for the extension of the Gushue highway(just one of many examples). I would like to see some investment here where the are hundreds of thousands going to work everyday. I am sick of rural people complaning that the gov. should do this, and the gov. should do that. The gov. does nothing, we are the ones who must do. Let's see some spending inside the overpass for a change!
-
- Long-gone
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:45
I read the telegram online once or twice a week. As someone who loves Newfoundland but left to make a better life, it's embarrassing and sad to see you all make these low blows against each other.
-
- Busy Bayman
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:43
I don't mind all this hype surrounding The Overpass . I have to pass many by the time I get home in Carbonear after work every day in St. John's. I'm a Bownie, Bayman by night and Townie by day!! HAHA.
-
- rusty
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:43
Do any of you people have lives? I mean really...the garbage I read in these comments frustrates and annoys me more than any story I've ever read...
It's an old piece of roadway that needs to be replaced as its design does not currently meets the traffic demands of the area.
If you fight the true Outside the Overpass argument, this upgrade services only those Baymen in CBS that commute TO TOWN FOR WORK on Topsail Rd everyday...imagine the Townies willing to let some of their dollars go to service someone else...unthinkable really...give me a break and get over yourselves! -
- John
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:42
Re. David's comment. Here on the North East Avalon we have well over half the entire population of the province,about 275,000, all squeezed up into one small part of the Avalon Penn. There is less than 25, 000 in Labrador, 15,000 on the Northern Penn, 20,000 on the Burin Penn ect. So, in a democracy the greater number deserves the lion's share of the public funding. It seems to me that the government has been far, far to generous to those outside the NEA catchment area. Time to start spending some of OUR tax dollars here, and stop propping up dying communities with no future other than as retirement centers.
-
- Coaster
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:42
To David re: John Smith
Hear hear. -
- Coaster
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:42
Where's St. John's again?
-
- Bill
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:41
Newfie from NL writes: Got a great idea for a make work, excuse me, Employment Enhancement program: All of us outside the Overpass grab a shovel and dig a big trench around Sin John's and let her float to the oil rigs.
*********************************
I'm from St. John's and that works for me! Just one problem though, who would who be left to read you the writing on your welfare checks or work to pay for your IE? Be careful what you wish for Newfie .. Be very careful indeed. -
- Coaster
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:41
To Townie from St Johns:
Didn't that used to have flypaper with the sticky side facing west stretched across the highway to catch the baymen so they couldn't get any closer to St. John's? Sneaky little buggers must have cut a hole in it! LOLOL
You're absolutely right except it wasnt flypaper but used toilet paper to remind us all what a crappy place we were headed for. -
- Bayboy
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:41
I don't know how all this stuff works, but I was always told the proverbial Overpass separating urban and rural Newfoundland was the one on the TCH, over which Pitts Memorial Drive goes. Must be a generational gap thing! But given the current lay of the land, seems kind of silly that St. John's suburbs (face it. That's what they are) Conception Bay South and Paradise would be included in the outside portion of the land beyond the overpass... and considering how the current city-centric provincial government operates, I don't think Paradise and CBS would want to be listed as outside the overpass for fear they might be ignored and forgotten like the rest of us!
-
- TooFunny
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:40
Ah, it's good to see the Overpass Syndrome is alive and well. It's funny to see people get so excited over a silly thing but it's really pathetic when they post multiple times under so many different names, pretending they have support for their position.
-
- sandra
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:40
Look, for all you crying A-holes out there who don't agree with John Smith's truth or don't like the situations your communities are in, why don't you get off your lazy arses, take responsiblity for your plight and better yourselves instead of blaming St. John's for your problems. The quicker you do that the better off all Newfoundland and Labrador will be ...
-
- Andrea
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:40
They can tear down what they want it wont' matter. If a bayman stubs his toe while cashing his welfare to buy beer in Black Arse Tickle, he's till going to blame it on St. John's anyway.
-
- Graham
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:40
Darren do you get your booze at the same Liquor Store as John Smith? It even sounds like your both drinking from the same bottle. What party should John run for Darren? Or will you blindly follow him just like you most likely follow Danny Williams? No need to answerI think I allready know. hanks for your mindless comment anyway John Darren Smith. LOL. Self praise is better than none at all I guess. It works for the Williams Government so why shouldnt it work for you as well. Cheers. Drink up J .D. Smith.
-
- Wince
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:40
There be dragons beyond the over-pass, and tales are told around the camp-fires of wild, uncivilized peoples known as Bay-Men!
To travel beyond the overpass is to travel into peril!
To remove the overpass will be to open the flood gates! Baymen hoardes will invade our domain without the barrier the over pass!
This must not STAND!
Rise up ye citiens of St. John's! We must prepare to repel the coming tide! -
- Bill
- - July 20, 2010 at 14:32:38
Overpass? As long as it doesn't affect my daily commute to and from work, it doesn't matter to me. As for those intent on this childish St. John's and Williams bashing here; enjoy the sun instead while the rest of us work.
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
