Climbing lanes will help, but won't solve all the issues on Veterans Memorial Highway

Detours are in place and construction is underway to add climbing lanes to Veterans Memorial Highway, says the province's transportation minister.

But while those climbing lanes will make Route 75 safer, they won't solve all of the issues on the often hazardous stretch of highway in Conception Bay North. The highway has seen multiple fatalities in recent months, including a teacher killed two weeks ago when her SUV hit a school bus.

"The reality is, motorists have to be aware. Motorists have to be cautious and watch their speeds," said Steve Crocker.

Crocker emphasized there is a difference between climbing lanes being added, and passing lanes.

Climbing lanes are installed on hills or inclines where slower, heavier traffic can move into the right-hand lane and allow faster moving traffic to proceed ahead.

"Safety is really going to come down to drivers' awareness, and us all being responsible as drivers, but … hopefully it will lead to less frustration, it will lead to less people taking chances that you normally wouldn't take if there's oncoming traffic," Crocker told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show.

"Anywhere you see passing lanes or divided highways, they are safer highways. So this is just an added safety feature. Unfortunately, this won't solve all of our challenges on the Veterans Memorial, but we feel it's one step forward."

The contractor is ahead of schedule, Crocker said, and there will need to be detours in place on the highway while blasting and heavy construction is happening.

Crocker said the decision to close the highway while the work was being done was made in consultation with the contractor, government, and RCMP.

"When the contractor is doing heavy operations or blasting, we will be detouring down through Bay Roberts, up through Roaches Line, I guess what most people in the area would call the old highway," Crocker said.

"It's a safety issue and we want to get the work done because really … there's been a lot of tragedy on this highway and we feel it's very important to get this construction work done."

Driving on Team Gushue by late-November

Meanwhile, Crocker said work is nearing completion on the Team Gushue extension, which he said will drastically change traffic flow in the St. John's area.

"It's like building a house — it's really just putting in the baseboards and putting in the doorknobs right now. Still some work to do, but we're really getting close to having Team Gushue open," Crocker said.

"Even though you can go up there and look at it and you would think the work is all done, it's not. There's still a lot of stuff to do."

Crocker said it's vital to get the work done before allowing traffic to drive on it, and all construction should wrap up in late November.

"Once this highway opens, it will be very hard for the department to actually get in there and do work, so we want to make sure that we have all the work done before we open," he said.

With files from the St. John's Morning Show

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