Labrdor highway from Red Bay to Happy valley...plus 389!

[dcason]

Read somewhere that in 2017 the section of Labrador highway between red bay and happy valley 500/510 was going to be paved. Anyone know if that actually happened.
AND has any additional paving happened on Quebec 389...which was by far the worst part of our 2013 trip....could not get a good speed up due to winding road.
Here's to hoping that 500/510 was paved! 389 don't have much hope for but will do it again
anyway.
Donna

[Yeti_plus]

For leaving we were originally booked on Aug 26, and left Sept 1, (Labour Day weekend) It was one of the tropical storms/ tail end of a hurricane, combined with everyone leaving the island for school on the mainland. 6 extra days near Port Aux Basques was frustrating, but there was lots of little day trips and sight seeing, so not too bad.
Brian

[dcason]

What kind of storm? Rain? Was it a rainy year? We hit one great year with not much rain and the next it was rainy and not enough footwear for hiking to let them dry out so we bailed earlier than we really wanted AND daughter was in the process of buying a foreclosure with our money (and son to guide her on what need to be fixed)...a little scary. But in the end great location for house and lots of fixing (we lived there for a year fixing).

[dcason]

Thanks Yeti for the current info...it is very helpful.

We have gone to NL twice and once we made reservations. We saw that going/leaving in May and June it wasn't really necessary Or if possible we could wait a day or so or do the night route on the way back or just call several days in advance. Last time we asked about next day ferry and it was full (mid june) but THAT night it was not so we booked AND were able to get a room (when we saw you could not sleep on the floor or on couches and the airline seats didn't work for me). We drove FASTer to make it there in time. I will chance it so make our time more free.
Donna

[MDKMDK]

Yeti plus wrote:
MDK, Yes we took the ferry from Blanc Sablon to St. Barbe.
We started in Southern Ontario, stopped in several spots in Quebec, sea kayaked with the whales on the St. Lawrence, then headed east and north, through Labrador , then Newfoundland.14,000 km., 11 weeks.

Donna, if you are still following make sure you make ferry reservations well in advance. We were storm stranded in the Codroy Valley for 6 days at the end of August and beginning of September delayed our return from NL.They were taking the people with the reservations made earliest first after they cancelled 3 ferries from Port Aux Basques. We didn't book until we returned from St. Pierre- Miquelon and had to wait for the backlog to clear.
Brian

Awesome Brian. Thanks for the mini-synopsis of your trip. We've been thinking of doing NL but the ferry ride from N Sydney to P Aux B would be problematic for my copilot. She doesn't float well. We've been hoping QC would fix 389 as the TLH gets closer to being completely paved. It's probably the only workable route for us there and back.
So you visited France too? Pretty cool when you don't have to leave North America to do it?
Thanks again for the info and advice about ferry booking if we had to use it. We were in N Sydney in 2015 on an east coast tour and got as far as the docks but couldn't complete the deal. So we research and wait to see how the overland route to/from Bland Sablon is progressing. We'll get there. Eventually.
Coincidentally we're in SW Ontario too. Near PoHo, MI.

[Yeti_plus]

MDK, Yes we took the ferry from Blanc Sablon to St. Barbe.
We started in Southern Ontario, stopped in several spots in Quebec, sea kayaked with the whales on the St. Lawrence, then headed east and north, through Labrador , then Newfoundland.14,000 km., 11 weeks.

Donna, if you are still following make sure you make ferry reservations well in advance. We were storm stranded in the Codroy Valley for 6 days at the end of August and beginning of September delayed our return from NL.They were taking the people with the reservations made earliest first after they cancelled 3 ferries from Port Aux Basques. We didn't book until we returned from St. Pierre- Miquelon and had to wait for the backlog to clear.
Brian

[MDKMDK]

Yeti plus wrote:
We drove the Trans Lab in 2019, late June early July. Quebec part was unpaved from Manic 5 to 50 km south of Fermont. Paved from there right through to south of Happy Valley Goose Bay, then they were working on the road and by the end of 2019 there would only be 100 to 150 km unpaved. From Port Hope Simpson all the way to Blanc Sablon was paved. The real adventure drive is almost all gone now and by the end of 2020 construction season it will be all paved.
Quebec 389 had some construction north of Manic 2 almost all the way to Manic 5. By the clear cutting I think they are re-routing slightly and making the road wider,definitely straightening but hard to tell since it was mostly just clear cut and only the beginning stages of road building.

Thanks Yp. Very useful, current, info. Did you take the ferry to St. Barbe?
Be nice if Quebec cleaned up 389.

[Yeti_plus]

We drove the Trans Lab in 2019, late June early July. Quebec part was unpaved from Manic 5 to 50 km south of Fermont. Paved from there right through to south of Happy Valley Goose Bay, then they were working on the road and by the end of 2019 there would only be 100 to 150 km unpaved. From Port Hope Simpson all the way to Blanc Sablon was paved. The real adventure drive is almost all gone now and by the end of 2020 construction season it will be all paved.
Quebec 389 had some construction north of Manic 2 almost all the way to Manic 5. By the clear cutting I think they are re-routing slightly and making the road wider,definitely straightening but hard to tell since it was mostly just clear cut and only the beginning stages of road building.

[dcason]

I hope they do connect both sides of route 138....otherwise those communities will die or be moved. We were going to do the western/southern side but maybe not time this time and we will do the easter/northern side of 138.

Donna

[MDKMDK]

No problem. It's been one of those "nice to dos" for us, but the lack of smooth reliable pavement has been the main problem for us, so far. I don't think our motorhome or towed would appreciate the gravel and potholes sections very much.
I've always liked the idea of accessing Newfoundland from the Labrador side, and back. The ferry is shorter and my co-pilot dreads the longer North Sydney to Port Aux Basques route. Argentia by ferry is out of the question.

I did find this early this morning. It's more of a weather/road conditions map. Might help a bit? In the better weather it would show any roadwork in progress, I think?
https://www.quebec511.info/en/Carte/Default.aspx

I also found some references to a project from 2006 that was going to try to join the 2 ends of Rte 138 along the north shore to create a shorter route between Kegashka and Old Fort, but it fell apart after some problems between the Quebec government and some outfit called Pakatan. It was supposedly resurrected last year, but I see no signs of progress.

Found another link to something re: Rte 138.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/battle-for-construction-of-quebec-labrador-highway-1.4923017

[dcason]

Thanks MDKMDK...I was on that website and missed that road plan because I was looking for a specific construction project listing that had been somewhere on that before. So it tells me that there are only 180km/111 miles left to pave and that will be done by END of 2020. I believe we will do it anyway.

It is the quebec part that I also searched high and low for information on that is rough and I have not found any plan for improving it or any solid info saying it will be done at any specific time in the remotely near future. So that is what it is...ROUGH...but parts of it are paved.

Thanks again.
Donna

[MDKMDK]

After much endless loop searching, I happened upon a headline about their "5 year provincial roads plan" which led to this website with a document in PDF format that can be downloaded or simply opened, your choice.
https://www.roads.gov.nl.ca/
I'm not sure if it muddies the waters about how much of the TLH is paved, or not. There is a comment about TLH projects on page 6. The scheduled projects section begins on page 9. Go by Hwy numbers in the leftmost column to locate specifics. No idea how much was completed.

Quebec is considered a separate nation by many, including themselves, with it's own infrastructure management schedules, and their communications, regarding the Hwy 389 improvements, if any, could not be located.