New Brunswick Route 2

New Brunswick Highway 2 (also Route 2) is the designation for the primary route of the Trans-Canada Highway through the Canadian province of New Brunswick. It is the primary highway route for traffic between the Atlantic provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island to central Canada.

The western terminus of Route 2 (km 0) is approximately 15 km north of the city ofEdmundston in the northwestern part of the province where it meets Quebec route 185 at the inter-provincial boundary. The eastern terminus is 500 km to the southeast at the Missiguash River which forms part of the inter-provincial boundary with Nova Scotia and where Route 2 meets NS Highway 104.

Major communities served

The highway from Edmundston continues south, following the Saint John River valley, and passes through St. Leonard, Grand Falls, Perth-Andover, Florenceville, Hartland, Woodstock, Fredericton, and Oromocto.

The highway leaves the Saint John River valley south of Oromocto and turns east, crossing the province south of Grand Lake and passing by Havelock to River Glade, Salisbury, Moncton and Dieppe before turning south and passing by Memramcook, Sackville, and Aulac before reaching the inter-provincial boundary.

Original alignment

The majority of road development in New Brunswick follows settlement patterns which pre-dated motor transport, thus most communities developed along navigable waterways or were served by railways. The development of controlled access expressways only began in the 1960s and only around the largest communities. The majority of early provincial highway improvements merely consisted of upgrading local roads.

Route 2 initially followed local roads from the N.B.-Quebec inter-provincial boundary to Edmundston and down the Saint John River valley to Grand Falls where it crossed to the west bank of the Saint John River before continuing down local roads to Florenceville where it crossed to the east bank to continue to Hartland, then recrossed the river to the west bank which it followed to Fredericton.

At Fredericton a controlled-access 2-lane section was built around the city and the highway crossed the Saint John River to the east bank just south of the central business district. Following the east bank of the Saint John River just metres above its waters (and frequently flooded in the spring freshet), the route continued south to Jemseg where the highway turned east along the southeast shore of Grand Lake to Youngs Cove Road where the highway turned south to Coles Island and on to Sussex.

At Sussex the highway turned east again and passed by Petitcodiac and then by Salisbury. East of Salisbury, Route 2 followed local roads over a series of low hills north of Moncton, cresting at Lutes Mountain, before descending and following a controlled access section bypassing the city and Dieppe, skirting the edge of the Memramcook River valley and on to Sackville, then Aulac, and finally the N.B.-N.S. inter-provincial boundary.

4-lane Construction

From the early upgrades of these local roads in the 1960s under Trans-Canada Highway funding (which became designated Route 2) until the mid-1980s, very little was done to improve New Brunswick highways, leading to significant deterioration of the Trans-Canada Highway in New Brunswick. By the mid-1980s Route 2 was a significant traffic hazard and a major embarrassment to the province.

The provincial government changed in 1987 with the election of premier Frank McKenna who was focused on improving the province's business climate. One of the government's major tasks was to revamp provincial transportation infrastructure and McKenna entered into agressive negotiations with the federal government of prime minister Brian Mulroney to secure federal funding of new highway projects. McKenna viewed Route 2 (the Trans-Canada Highway) and Route 1 in New Brunswick as being partially a federal responsibility since they funnelled the majority of Atlantic Canada's highway traffic to the U.S. and central Canada. The signing of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement in 1989, coupled with federal approval for numerous railway line abandonments in the Maritimes during the 1980s, led to predictions of further highway traffic growth on New Brunswick highways in the 1990s.

Under the remainder of the McKenna administration's years of power (until 1997), Route 2 saw significant upgrading to become a 4-lane expressway on heavily-travelled portions of the highway between the N.B.-N.S. inter-provincial boundary and Penobsquis (east of Sussex). Other isolated sections were also upgraded south of Grand Lake and between Edmundston and St. Leonard, as well as at Woodstock where an interchange connected to Interstate 95.

Trans-Canada Re-alignment

Despite the upgrades, the uncontrolled-access sections of Route 2 were still a significant traffic hazard. Intensive lobbying from other provincial governments in the Atlantic provinces, as well as various trucking companies and business and transportation interests, asked that Route 2 be further upgraded. Unfortunately provincial finances could not handle the relatively large price tag required, even with the federal funding at the time.

As a result, the final years of the McKenna administration saw a signficant re-alignment of Route 2 proposed, running from Long Creek west of Fredericton, by-passing Fredericton and Oromocto to the west, and continuing southeast to Jemseg where it would cross the Saint John River and connect with an existing 4-lane section south of Grand Lake. From there the highway would again depart from its original alignment (which headed south to Sussex) and instead head due east to meet the existing Route 2 alignment at River Glade, just east of Petitcodiac.

The new 225 km of new 4-lane controlled-access expressway would be privately financed and built, with the builder charging tolls for a 25-year period before the provincial government would gain control of the highway. In the late 1990s, an agreement was signed with a private consortium called Maritime Road Development Corporation (led by former provincial Liberal leader and former federal Minister of Transport Douglas Young) to build the new Route 2 alignment at an estimated cost of $1 billion (CAD).

The toll issue was not without controversy as it led to the downfall of McKenna's successor, Camille Theriault in 1999 to PC leader Bernard Lord. The highway was built, but tolls were removed from most portions of the highway before they opened and this portion of the privately-built (and owned) re-alignment of the Trans-Canada Highway has a hidden toll which is charged to the provincial government, thus motorists do not directly pay for their highway usage.

The new alignment of the Trans-Canada Highway opened in October, 2001 and at this time the portion of the old Route 2 alignment which ran between River Glade and Sussex was re-designated as part of Route 1, extending the eastern terminus of that highway approximately 40 km. The re-alignment also had the effect of shortening the total length of Route 2 in the province by approximately 40 km.

The re-alignment and construction of Route 2 between Long Creek and River Glade "catapaulted" New Brunswick highways forward by decades virtually overnight. Suddenly it was now possible to travel from Fredericton into Nova Scotia (and on to Halifax) completely on a 4-lane controlled access highway.

Future Plans

The high quality of construction of the new Route 2 alignment and improvement in the provincial highway system was not unnoticed by the new government of premier Bernard Lord. Throughout 2000-2003, several small 4-lane controlled access sections on Route 2 were opened, most requiring construction of a new alignment.

During this same period, negotiations were undertaken with the federal government to secure funding to complete the last, and one of the most costly parts of the new construction - a 130 km gap between Woodstock and Grand Falls over the Appalachian Mountains, and a 30 km gap between Long Creek and Pokiok west of Fredericton.

In August, 2003 a joint announcement was made by premier Lord and prime minister Jean Chretien for a $400 million (CAD) agreement to complete upgrades to the last remaining non-controlled access section of Route 2.

The construction, to be completed by 2007-2008 will see a completely new alignment built north of Woodstock, staying several kilometres inland from the Saint John River's west bank, and parallelling the Canada-U.S. border north to Grand Falls where it crosses to the east bank of the river. Part of the existing alignment between Long Creek and Pokiok will be upgraded and the rest of this section will see a new alignment built. In addition to upgrades to Route 2, New Brunswick Highway 95, a short connecting route between the Trans-Canada Highway at Woodstock and Interstate 95 at the Canada-U.S. border at Houlton is also having similar upgrades.

When completed later this decade, the entire length of Route 2, the Trans-Canada Highway in New Brunswick, will be a 4-lane controlled-access expressway with a posted speed limit of 110 km/h (design speed of 150 km/h).