New Brunswick Route 2

Next was the bypass around Woodstock. The road from Route 42 (now Route 560) at Jacksonville northeast to Route 2 (now Route 103) at Somerville was Route 2B by the late 1950s;^[12] with the 1960 completion^{[citation needed]} of the Hugh John Flemming Bridge, just upstream from the Hartland Covered Bridge, and the extension of Route 2B south from Jacksonville to Route 2 (now Route 165) south of Woodstock, Route 2B became a realignment of Route 2, with old Route 2 through Woodstock becoming Route 2A (renumbered Route 103 in 1965).^[11]

The initial bypass of Fredericton was also built in about 1960, including the 1959^{[citation needed]} Princess Margaret Bridge across the Saint John River, which replaced the Carleton Street Bridge for traffic to Route 8, 9, and Route 10. Traffic remaining on Route 2 to Saint John exited the bypass at what is now exit 7 for Route 7.

Route 2 was moved to be

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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

Route 2 initially followed present-day Route 144 from the N.B.-Quebec interprovincial boundary to Edmundston and down the Saint John River Valley to Grand Falls. There, it crossed to the west bank of the Saint John River, and continued south to Florenceville where it crossed to the east bank to continue along present-day Route 130 to Hartland, then recrossed the river to the west bank which it followed present-day Routes 590, 165, and 102 to Fredericton in a southeast direction.

At Fredericton a controlled-access 4-lane section was built around the city, and the highway crossed the Saint John River on the

At Sussex the highway turned east again and passed by Three Rivers 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.

Four-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 (aside from some re-alignment of Route 2 west of Fredericton with the flooding created by the Mactaquac Dam construction in 1968), 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.^{[citation needed]}

The provincial government changed in 1987 with the election of Premier

Under the remainder of the McKenna administration's years of power (until 1997), Route 2 saw significant upgrading to become a 4-lane

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.

Fredericton–Moncton Highway

As a result, the final years of the McKenna administration saw a significant realignment of Route 2 proposed, running from Longs Creek, west of Fredericton, bypassing it and Oromocto to the west, and continuing southeast to Jemseg, where it would cross the Saint John River and connect with an existing four-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, east of Three Rivers.

225 km (140 mi) of new, four-lane, controlled-access

The toll issue was not without controversy as it, along with several other issues, led to the downfall of McKenna's successor, Camille Thériault, in 1999 to PC leader Bernard Lord. The highway was built, but tolls were removed from most portions of the highway before they opened. This portion of the privately built realignment of the Trans-Canada Highway has a hidden toll calculated by sensors in the pavement. The toll is instead charged to the provincial government, thus motorists do not directly pay for their highway usage. Along with a payment worth millions of dollars to get out of the original contract, the provincial government now makes all provincial taxpayers cover the cost of the highway when the original plan had been for a user-pay system under a toll structure.

The new alignment of the Trans-Canada Highway opened in fall 2001 and at this time the portion of the old Route 2 alignment which ran between Sussex and River Glade was re-designated as part of

The re-alignment and construction of Route 2 between Longs Creek and River Glade catapulted New Brunswick highways forward by decades virtually overnight. The road was designed with 150 m (500 ft) medians, extensive wildlife fencing and underpasses, rumble strips along emergency breakdown lanes, paved emergency U-turn areas, sensors beneath the asphalt for monitoring truck weights as well as local weather and road surface conditions, extensive guard rails and reflectors, as well as two major bridges: the Saint John River High Level Crossing and the nearby Jemseg River Bridge.

With the completion of the new alignment, it was now possible to travel from Fredericton into Nova Scotia (and on to

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 98 km (61 mi) gap between Woodstock and Grand Falls over the Appalachian Mountains (bypassing present-day Routes 165, 103 and 130), and a 30 km (19 mi) gap between Longs Creek and Pokiok (bypassing present-day Route 102), west of Fredericton.

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

The Pokiok-Longs Creek section had been independently contracted by the provincial government and opened in November 2006.^[13] However, the provincial government sought to construct the remaining 98 km (61 mi) gap as part of a complete "design-build-finance-operate-maintain-rehabilitate" plan which would see large private sector consortia bid for the right to design and construct the 98 km of new highway for Route 2, as well as to operate the entire 275 km (171 mi) section of Route 2 between Longs Creek, where it abuts the 230 km (140 mi) hidden-toll highway section built and operated by Maritime Road Development Corporation, and the Quebec–New Brunswick border as well as all of Route 95.

The winning consortium was Brun-Way Group, a joint venture by

The construction of the last segment of four-lane Route 2 was completed by Brun-Way on November 1, 2007. This construction saw a completely new alignment built north of Woodstock, staying several kilometres inland from the Saint John River's west bank, and paralleling the Canada–United States border north to Grand Falls, where it crosses to the east bank of the river and connects with existing four-lane upgrades to Route 2 through to the Quebec boundary. In addition to upgrades to Route 2, Brun-Way is also contracted to perform similar upgrades to Route 95, a short connecting route between the Trans-Canada Highway at Woodstock and the Canada U.S. border at Houlton where it meets Interstate 95.

Upon the opening of this section to traffic on November 1, 2007, the entire length of Route 2 and Route 95 are four-lane controlled-access

Highway of Heroes

On August 12, 2012 Highway 2 was officially named "Highway of Heroes" by Premier David Alward.

Exit list

County	Location	km	mi	Old exit[14]	New exit[15][16]	Destinations	Notes
Madawaska	​	0.0	0.0	—	—	A-85 (TCH) continues towards Rivière-du-Loup	Continuation into Quebec
		1.0	0.62		1[17]	Madawaska Avenue	Eastbound exit and entrance; westbound access from exit  on A-85
	Edmundston	8.9	5.5	8	8	Route 144 (Principale Street) – Saint-Jacques	Western terminus of Route 144
		13.3	8.3	15	13	Route 144 (Boulevard Acadie, Canada Road) – Saint-Jacques	Signed as exits 13A (west) and 13B (east)
		15.0	9.3	Crosses the Madawaska River
		15.7– 16.7	9.8– 10.4		16	Carrier Street, Victoria Street
		18.3	11.4	18	18	To Lac-Baker, Madawaska
		19.2	11.9		19[18]	Gray Rock Road
		21.7	13.5	21	21	To Route 144 / Iroquois Road – Saint-Basile
		26.7	16.6	26	26	To Route 144 (Principale Street) – Saint-Basile
	Riviere-Verte	32.9	20.4	32	32	To Route 144 – Rivière-Verte
	Sainte-Anne-de-Madawaska	46.7	29.0	46	46	To Route 144 / Martin Road – Sainte-Anne-de-Madawaska
	Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes	51.1	31.8	51	51	To Route 144 – Siegas, Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes
	Saint-Leonard
		58.9	36.6	58	58	Saint Leonard Airport
		69.0	42.9		69	Bourgoin Road – Rang-des-Bourgoin, Martin Siding
Tobique Valley, Saint-André	Western terminus of Route 108, southern terminus of Route 255
	77.0	47.8	75[19]	77	Route 108 to Route 144 – Grand Falls, Saint-André	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
	77.5– 77.8	48.2– 48.3	Crosses the Saint John River
	78.7– 80.1	48.9– 49.8	78 US 1A  / Everard-Daigle Boulevard
	Grand Falls Portage	82.4	51.2		83	Route 130 (Portage Road)	Northbound exit and entrance
	Argosy	88.0	54.7		88	Route 130 to Route 375 – Limestone, New Denmark
	​	99.0	61.5		99	Route 130 – Four Falls
	Aroostook	106.5	66.2	Crosses the Aroostook River
		107.3	66.7		107	Route 130 – Aroostook, Four Falls
	Perth-Andover, Carlingford
Florenceville, Centreville
	Waterville	171.7	106.7		172	Route 130 – Hartland	Southern terminus of Route 130
	Jacksonville	183.0– 183.9	113.7– 114.3		184	Route 560 / Lockhart Mill Road – Jacksonville, Upper Woodstock
	Woodstock	185.4	115.2	188	185	Route 550 – Woodstock, Bloomfield
		187.1– 188.0	116.3– 116.8	191A	187	Route 95 west to I-95 – Houlton, Bangor	Eastern terminus of Route 95
		188.5	117.1	191B	188	Route 103 / Route 555 – Woodstock	Southern terminus of Route 103, eastern terminus of Route 555
		191.4	118.9	194	191	Beardsley Road	Durham Bridge
		194.0	120.5		194	Hodgdon Road – Woodstock First Nation
	Hay Settlement	201.2	125.0		200	Route 165 (Dugan Road) – Hillman
Lakeland Ridges	Eastern terminus of Route 122, southern terminus of Route 165
	221.0– 222.8	137.3– 138.4		223	Charlie Lake Road – Temple	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
	Nackawic-Millville	Northern terminus of Route 102
	Kings Landing
	Fredericton, McAdam, Mactaquac
	Mazerolle Settlement	271.3	168.6	271	271	To Route 640 / Mazerolle Settlement Road – Hanwell
	Fredericton, Miramichi	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance; southern terminus of Route 8
		280.8– 281.7	174.5– 175.0		281	Route 640 (Hanwell Road)
		285.1– 286.1	177.2– 177.8	285	285	Fredericton Junction	Signed as exits 285A (south) and 285B (north)
Fredericton, Miramichi, Mactaquac	Western end of concurrency with Route 7; westboound exit and eastbound entrance
	Rusagonis-Waasis	296.5	184.2	11	297	Nevers Road – Rusagonis-Waasis, Lincoln
	Fredericton Airport	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		302.8	188.2	303	303	To Fredericton Airport
		305.1– 306.2	189.6– 190.3		306	Route 7 south – Saint John	Eastern end of concurrency with Route 7; no westbound exit
Queens	Arcadia	329.3	204.6		330	Route 102 – Arcadia
		331.5– 332.5	206.0– 206.6	Saint John River High Level Crossing crosses the Saint John River
		332.5– 333.6	206.6– 207.3		333	Route 105 south – Sheffield	No westbound entrance, northern terminus of Route 105 (southern segment)
	Jemseg	338.0	210.0	Jemseg River Bridge crosses the Jemseg River
		339.0	210.6	343	339	Jemseg
	Mill Cove	347.4	215.9		347	Route 105 to Route 10 – Mill Cove, Chipman
	Fundy National Park, Sussex, Chipman
	​	372.2	231.3	Crosses the Canaan River
Westmorland	Salisbury	413.4– 414.9	256.9– 257.8		414	Route 885 – Three Rivers, Havelock
		422.7– 424.9	262.7– 264.0		423	Route 1 – Three Rivers, Sussex, Saint John	Eastern terminus of Route 1
		432.8	268.9	470	433	Route 112 to Route 106 – Salisbury
	Fundy, Riverview
		450.0– 450.8	279.6– 280.1	488	450	Moncton, Magnetic Hill, Miramichi
		452.1	280.9	490	452	Gorge Road
		454.3	282.3	492	454	Mapleton Road – Mapleton
		458.5– 459.6	284.9– 285.6	496	459	Champdoré, Notre-Dame	Signed as exits 459A (south) and 459B (north)
		462.4	287.3	500	462	Caledonia
		464.8	288.8	502	465	Lakeville
	Shediac, Miramichi, Prince Edward Island	Signed as exits 467A (south/west) and 467B (north/east)
		473.4	294.2	511	474	Roméo LeBlanc International Airport, Scoudouc	Signed as exits 474A (south) and 474B (north)
	Memramcook	479.5	297.9	517	480	Old Shediac Road – Calhoun
		482.0	299.5	519	482	To Memramcook Centre, Dorchester
		486.8	302.5	524	488	Route 933 (Pont Rouge Road) to Route 104 / Route 925	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance; southern terminus of Route 933
		488.1	303.3	524	488	Memramcook-Est Road	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
	Sackville	498.9– 500.2	310.0– 310.8	538	500	Walker Road
		503.7	313.0	541	504	Route 940 (Main Street)
		505.9	314.4	544	506	Route 106 (Bridge Street) – Dorchester	Eastern terminus of Route 106
		508.9	316.2			Coles Island Road	Unsigned; westbound exit and entrance
	​	512.0– 512.9	318.1– 318.7	550	513	Fort Beauséjour, Port Elgin, P.E.I.	Signed as exits 513A (Aulac) and 513B (Route 16)
Missaguash River		514.7	319.8	Missaguash River Bridge
				—	—	Hwy 104 (TCH) east – Truro, Halifax	Continuation into Nova Scotia
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access       Route transition

See also

• List of New Brunswick provincial highways

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to New Brunswick Route 2.

Preceded by Quebec

Highway 2 New Brunswick

Succeeded by Nova Scotia

Preceded by QC Autoroute 85	Trans-Canada Highway Route 2	Succeeded by NS Highway 104
		Succeeded by Route 16