A worker drags asphalt to the remaining points of the Trans Labrador Highway at Cartwright Junction on Tuesday. (Heidi Atter / CBC)
After decades of construction, the Trans-Labrador Highway has been paved, a gigantic infrastructure project that allows vehicles to travel from western Labrador to the Belle Isle Strait.
Work on the 1,149-kilometer road began in the early 1980s, with sections of the road completed in phases.
On Tuesday, at Cartwright Junction, workers used rakes to smooth the asphalt, and eventually joined two different parts of the road.
South Coast communities began connecting to the freeway while it was a network road in the 1990s and early 2000s. Lisa Dempster, the Minister responsible for Labrador Affairs, remembers the day which connected his hometown, on the coast, Charlottetown.
“We connected with the outside world, on December 10, 2001, to my community. And this was an important and monumental day for us as well,” Dempster said.
“It was a game changer in our way of life.”
Dempster said the completion of the highway was the result of a series of people who championed paving for decades. He said the patience of local residents has been weakening in recent years, but that the pandemic and ferries that were delayed due to strong winds played a role in the delay.
Less than 100 meters from where the sidewalk was sealed on Tuesday is the gravel access road to Cartwright.
GALLERY | Take a look at how the highway has looked over the years through public photographs:
It is one of the many access roads to the south coast that remain unpaved.
Dempster said the province has competing priorities, but that it will focus on another transportation strategy for Labrador.
Next: viability of a north coast road
Transport and Infrastructure Minister Elvis Loveless said it was a moment of pride to see the pavement pieces joined together. He said a bigger celebration is being planned for the fall.
Even though the highway is now paved, Labrador will continue to be a priority for the department, Loveless said.
The new pavement meets the asphalt previously laid at Cartwright Junction on the Trans-Labrador Highway. The paving of this stretch of road was completed on Tuesday. (Heidi Atter / CBC)
“Believe me, I can say with a lot of confidence that Labrador is not in the background now, before and moving forward,” he said.
The province is completing a pre-feasibility study of the possibility of a road to the north coast. Loveless said they are finalizing the consultations and determining their scope and hope to publish it by the end of the summer.
The sidewalk was a welcome sighting for Lynn and Tom Agnew, two tourists from Pine Valley, Ont. Driving to Labrador through northern Quebec, they said the dirt road on the Quebec highway was harder for their caravan and took longer than the paved Labrador highway.
Flag Thelma Sampson (from left), MHA Lisa Dempster, Lynn Agnew, Tom Agnew, Transport Minister Elvis Loveless. The two ministers presented a Labrador flag to the first couple to cross the highway. (Heidi Atter / CBC)
“The roads have been amazing,” Tom Agnew said.
“Everyone is very nice,” Lynn Agnew said.
“They even offered to come and wash clothes at someone’s house in Labrador City and we offered to take a shower. It’s just that. People are so great, so it’s great,” he said. “Wonderful.”
Road workers, officials and Cartwright residents gathered Tuesday to celebrate the completion of the construction project. (Heidi Atter / CBC)
Both received a Labrador flag from the provincial government to be the first to circulate on the new sidewalk. Lynn Agnew said that while this is her first time in Big Land, she expects other tourists to pass by.
“Don’t miss it. It’s worth the trip,” he said.
“They’re finding out about us now,” Dempster said. “We have hundreds of miles of vast, virgin territory. We have what the rest of the world wants to see. And now we’re putting our infrastructure in place and opening up to business.”
MIRAR | From our archives, see stories about the early stages of working on the Trans-Labrador Highway:
The long, winding road
The Trans-Labrador has been done for 40 years, and now it’s finally done. Take a look at these archive stories of when work began on the road.
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