Newfoundland History

Roads in Newfoundland

(to 1949)

[This text was written in 1949. For the full citation, see the end of the document. Links have been added to the original document by Claude Bélanger.]

Since the sea has served and still serves as highway between settlements on the coast of Newfoundland , development of roads has not been rapid. However, there are a number of highways, mainly gravel-surfaced, in some districts, and new construction is under way.

 

On the west coast a gravel road loops around the head of St. George's bay from Flat Bay to Lourdes, and farther north, roads out of Corner Brook run south to St. George's lake and north to Bonne bay. On the north-east coast, a road loops from Leamington through Botwood, Grand Falls , and Badger, and swings north to Hall's bay. On the south coast, there is a road around the foot of the Burin peninsula. Another road, across the top of the peninsula, from Terrenceville to Goobies, joins the new Cabot highway which crosses the Rantem isthmus and links Bonavista with St. John's .

 

The most highly developed system of roads, of course, is to be found on the Avalon peninsula . A coastal highway runs from Trepassey, in the south, through St. John's and around to New Harbour, in the north-west. There are, in addition, other highways and branches, so that most of the settlements on the peninsula may be reached by road. The roads from St. John's to Portugal Cove and St. John's to Carbonear have been paved, and some paving has been done on the highway leading southward from St. John's.

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Source: W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada. Newfoundland Supplement, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1949, 104p., p. 94.