Team Gushue Highway delayed; permits, winter weather cited

The Team Gushue Highway extension in St. John's was slated to be completed this year, but the provincial government now says that won't be possible.

According to Transportation and Works Minister Nick McGrath, the $45-million project is now likely to be completed in 2015.

The section from the Outer Ring Road to Kenmount Road has been open for some time, but there is still a long way to go, McGrath said.

"What we are hoping is that the construction piece could be finished in 2014 and then we'll start paving in 2015. Hopefully the paving will be completed in 2015," he said.

The finished highway will cut through St. John's from the Outer Ring Road to the Goulds Bypass Road — more than seven kilometres of road with seven large under and overpasses.

McGrath said the brutal winter, paired with difficulties clearing permits with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to construct roads through controlled waterways, were challenges.

"We had a very early winter — late November when the winter came and it stayed [late] — and then there's some environmental pieces that took much longer to get through for the permits," said McGrath.

The highway construction is funded by the federal and provincial governments, but will be owned and maintained by the City of St. John's upon completion.