Work to install the last remaining guide rails on the Team Gushue Highway from Kenmount Road to Topsail Road in the metro area is scheduled to be completed this weekend, leading to the extension opening by Monday, Transportation and Works announced Friday.
The new section extends the highway 4.2 kilometres from Kenmount Road to Topsail Road. To complete the new route across the City of St. John’s, it was necessary to construct five concrete overpasses, 16 ramps, a roundabout at the Blackmarsh Road interchange, and Brier Avenue – a new road linking Old Penneywell Road to the highway, the department said in a news release.
Motorists can access the new section of the Team Gushue Highway via Kenmount Road, Captain Whelan Drive, the new Brier Avenue, Blackmarsh Road and Topsail Road.
The Team Gushue Highway from Outer Ring road to Topsail Road will be one of the now 14 routes to have overnight snow clearing.
The cost of the highway from Kenmount to Topsail Road is $58.9 million, cost-shared between the provincial government and the Government of Canada.
Budget 2018 allocated $13.7 million to advance the Team Gushue Highway extension.
“This extension was a substantial construction project with numerous overhead structures,” Transportation and Works Minister Steve Crocker said.
“It will be a very important piece of infrastructure that will reduce traffic congestion and change traffic flows in the area. We look forward to extending the highway to the Robert E. Howlett Highway in the future.”
