Team Gushue Highway's next phase on hold, more studies needed

A lot has changed since the provincial government first envisioned an arterial highway between Mount Pearl and St. John's.

Columbus Drive and the Prince Philip Parkway didn't exist. Neither did the developmentat Southlands, or most recently, Galway.

The newest residential and commercial developments have made the province hit pause on plans to finish Team Gushue Highway, which will eventually stretch all the waybetween the Outer Ring Road and Pitts Memorial Drive.

"This year might possibly just be a paper exercise, an engineering exercise," said Transportation Minister Steve Crocker.

The province will conduct a traffic studyto determine the best way to connect the existing section of Team Gushue Highway to Pitts Memorial Drive (Route 2)near Ruby Line.

"We want to make sure that Team Gushue is properly aligned to meet the traffic demands that are happening over there," Crocker said."So instead of us rushing a project here, we want to make sure we take all the latest data into consideration."

The highway currently ends at Topsail Road. That stretch opened in December, four years past its projected finishing date. The highway was announced in 2006, named forNewfoundland and Labrador'sgolden Olympic curling squad.

The project involved expropriating land around Brookfield Road in the west end of St. John's. While most of that was done in the last few years, there remains one problem: the province cannot take land from the feds.

"We have a land issue with the federal government with the experimental farm," Crocker said. "We're getting close to an agreement on that. That's something we're going to resolve."

New bridges and culverts also being considered

As part of the traffic study, Crocker said the province will also look at the possibility of upgrading the infrastructure along Pitts Memorial Drive.

Construction began in the 1970s and was funded by the provincial and federal governments. Crocker said it might be time to replace bridges or culverts, and the province will explore a similar cost sharing agreement.

When asked if the traffic study could result in any changes to the route of the last phase of Team Gushue Highway, Crocker said it will still connect in the same place, but there may be a need to make some changes to how it connects.

As for land owners in the area, the minister said he'll try to keep them in the loop.

"We don't want to leave these people in the dark. We want to get this information compiled and get it done as quickly as possible so we can determine the final layout of this highway."

A request for proposals will go out in the next few weeks to find a company to conduct the study. There's no timeline yet for when it will be completed, but Crocker said his department might go ahead with some subgrade work near Brookfield Road in the meantime.

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador