Canadian infrastructure news — After 25 years, the final section of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Team Gushue Highway is officially open, closing the book on a project that began as Bifurcation Road in 2001 and ends as a tribute to the province’s most famous curling team.
By Maplestime Events Desk | Mount Pearl, Newfoundland and Labrador | October 24, 2026
Sources: Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, TSN | Last updated: October 24, 2026
Key Takeaways
- The final section of the Team Gushue Highway officially opened October 23, 2026, at an event at the Admiralty House Communications Museum Annex in Mount Pearl.
- Construction began in 2001, when the project was called Bifurcation Road, and the highway was renamed after skip Brad Gushue’s team won gold at the 2006 Turin Olympics.
- The final link runs from Topsail Road to the Commonwealth Avenue, Brookfield Road and Heavy Tree Road area, connecting to the Pitts Memorial Drive and Robert E. Howlett Memorial Drive interchange.
- The multi-year project was completed through a joint $30-million provincial-federal investment under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program.
The opening event took place at the Admiralty House Communications Museum Annex, 365 Old Placentia Road, Mount Pearl, beginning at 10:00 a.m. on October 23, 2026. A quarter century after the first work began, drivers in the St. John’s area finally have the complete road.
The Final Link of the Team Gushue Highway
The final link extends the highway from Topsail Road to the Commonwealth Avenue, Brookfield Road and Heavy Tree Road area, creating a direct connection to the Pitts Memorial Drive and Robert E. Howlett Memorial Drive interchange through a roundabout corridor.
The completed work includes two new roundabouts, an overpass structure, auxiliary access roads, and the re-alignment of a section of Brookfield Road now known as Brookfield Place. None of that sounds glamorous, but for the people who drive these roads every day, roundabouts and overpasses are the difference between a commute that flows and one that stalls.
From Bifurcation Road to a Curling Landmark
Construction began in 2001, when the project was called Bifurcation Road. Former premier Danny Williams renamed it Team Gushue Highway after skip Brad Gushue’s team won gold at the 2006 Turin Olympics, and the name stuck through two more decades of construction.
Brad Gushue is a six-time Brier champion from St. John’s, and his 2006 team was the first Canadian team to win men’s curling gold at the Olympics. Gushue retired earlier in 2026, before the highway was finished, which gives the opening a bittersweet edge: the road named for his team is complete just after his playing career ended.
Gushue himself sounded pleased rather than wistful:
“We’ve always been incredibly honoured to have this highway named after our team. Now that it’s complete, we’re excited to see the positive impact it will have on the community and the people who use it every day.” — Brad Gushue, Olympian.
What the Completion Means for Drivers
The highway connects St. John’s and Mount Pearl and area communities, and it is intended to ease traffic, shorten travel times, and improve access to the province’s largest health-care and post-secondary facilities. It serves growing western St. John’s communities including Southlands, Brookfield Plains, the Goulds and Kilbride.
That last point is the one that will decide whether the highway earns its keep. These are communities that have grown faster than their roads, and a direct connection to the Pitts Memorial Drive and Robert E. Howlett Memorial Drive interchange gives them a route that did not exist before. Shorter trips to hospitals and campuses are not abstract benefits. They are hours back in people’s weeks.
The multi-year project was completed through a joint $30-million provincial-federal investment under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. Twenty-five years, $30 million, two roundabouts and one Olympic gold medal later, the Team Gushue Highway is finally a finished road instead of a long-running promise.
Maplestime will provide updates from the Team Gushue Highway as announcements are made.
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Was 25 years an acceptable wait for a road this important, or should Newfoundland and Labrador have finished the Team Gushue Highway a decade ago? Tell us in the comments. And share this with every Canadian who has ever sat in traffic wondering why the road was never finished.
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