'Christmas present like we've never had before'

Trans-Labrador Highway (TLH) Phase 3 connecting Cartwright Junction to Happy Valley-Goose Bay opened for business on Dec. 16.

Then it was closed due to poor weather.

"Opened and closed the same day," Cartwright Mayor Rosetta Holwell laughed. "But it's open in time for Christmas, so people will be traveling on it now when the weather improves. That's an extra bonus, that's an early Christmas present like we've never had before. It's history in the making."

The provincial government began awarding contracts for Phase 3 construction in 2004, one year after completing TLH Phase 2, connecting the Labrador Straits to Cartwright Junction.

In the House of Assembly on Dec. 16, Transportation Minister Tom Hedderson said the final cost of Phase 3 is expected to be approximately $130 million, and since the Williams Government's first budget in 2004, the provincial government has spent some $185 million on the Trans-Labrador Highway.

"We had hoped to have an opening ceremony today (Dec. 16) to mark this historic occasion, but due to adverse weather in the Big Land, we were not able to proceed as planned," Mr. Hedderson said last week. "With Christmas just around the corner and many people anxiously awaiting the opening of this highway, we felt it was important to open this highway is soon as possible."

Next summer the provincial government will spend approximately $15 million to officially complete Phase 3, he said, adding the work will include the completion of two permanent bridges currently under construction, finishing work on the road surface, guide rail and permanent signage.

Ms. Holwell said while Cartwright faces the challenges of being 90 km from the junction, the connection to Happy Valley-Goose Bay is viewed as a major boost to her coastal community, home to nearly 600 people.

"Yes, we got challenges, but with further port and tourism development, and with oil and gas on the horizon, we got a lot of things in our favour," Ms. Holwell said of the subjects discussed during the Cartwright Summit this fall.

"Our geography is in our favour; we're on the Atlantic Ocean's doorstep, which gives us access to Northern Labrador and northern Canada and beyond. Happy-Valley-Goose Bay is central, and many of the services for Labrador are located there, our medical, our schooling services, government services, business services, social, family and friends there, so there's a great deal of connections there."

Labrador MP Todd Russell said the opening of that portion of the TLH is an important event in Labrador's modern history.

"Over the years, generations of leaders have dreamed of the day when you could drive across Labrador, right from the Height of Land to the Strait of Belle Isle," Mr. Russell said. "There were many who said it would never happen, that it couldn't be done, some even said that it shouldn't be done. For those who dreamed, and pushed, and fought all these years, today they have been proven right."

Mr. Russell noted that the lion's share of funding for the TLH has come from the federal government, including the 1997 Labrador Transportation Initiative Fund of over $340-million.

The connection of this basic road link, something that people in every other part of the province and country take for granted, has been a long time coming, he said.

"It will transform the economic and social life of the communities it connects; in the long run it can transform transportation patterns in the province as a whole, and all of eastern Canada," he said.

"We must also recognize that there is much work left to do, including upgrading and paving all three Phases of the Trans-Labrador Highway, and working towards building links to other communities who seek to join the Labrador Highway network."

Ms. Holwell agreed there's plenty of work left to do.

"It's a happy day for us," she said. "The next thing that needs to be done is that it needs to be paved and we need the north coast connected and we need three other communities on the south coast (Black Tickle, Norman Bay and Williams Harbour) connected."