Nova Scotia Highway 104

Highway 104
Miners Memorial Highway Trans-Canada Highway
Route information
Maintained by Nova Scotia Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal
Length:	320 km[citation needed] (199 mi)
Existed:	1970[citation needed] – present
Major junctions
West end:	Route 2 (TCH) towards Moncton, NB
	Hwy 102 in Truro Hwy 106 (TCH) near New Glasgow Hwy 105 (TCH) near Port Hawkesbury
East end:	Trunk 4 near St. Peter's
Highway system
Provincial highways in Nova Scotia ← Hwy 103 Hwy 105 (TCH) →

Highway 104 in Nova Scotia runs from the New Brunswick border near Amherst to St. Peter's. Except for the portion on Cape Breton Island between Port Hawkesbury and St. Peter's, it is part of the Trans-Canada Highway.

Highway 104 mostly supplants the former route of Trunk 4. In 1970, all sections of Trunk 4 west of New Glasgow were renumbered, although the number was added back in the Mount Thom and Wentworth Valley areas in the 1990s when new alignments of Highway 104 opened to traffic.

The provincial government named the length of the highway between the New Brunswick border and the Canso Causeway the Miner's Memorial Highway on 8 September 2008 one month before the 50th anniversary of the Springhill Mining Disaster of 23 October 1958.

Route

Highway 104 outside Westville, Nova Scotia (Exit 21).

The route is 320 kilometres (200 mi) long, of which the western 177 km (110 mi) is a 4-lane divided freeway. From Amherst, the highway runs east to Oxford, then southeast on a tolled section through the Cobequid Pass that opened in 1997. Tolls for this section are $4 for cars and $3.50 per axle for commercial vehicles. It meets Highway 102 near Truro then turns back northeast past Mount Thom to New Glasgow.

East of New Glasgow, the highway becomes 2 lanes and undivided, and portions have no controlled access. There are traffic lights in the Antigonish area, although construction has begun on a four-laned bypass. This bypass will keep traffic moving at 110 km/h (70 mph), and eliminate the various bottlenecks between Antigonish and Heatherton, including stretches of road with a posted speed limit of 60 km/h (40 mph). Beginning at Heatherton (19 km to the east), Highway 104 is a two-lane freeway to Auld's Cove, where several gas stations and motels are located. The highway then crosses the Canso Causeway to Cape Breton Island. The highway is unsigned as it follows Trunk 4 through the town of Port Hawkesbury. From there, another 37 km (23 mi) two-lane freeway segment follows the southern coast of Cape Breton Island to its end at Trunk 4 in St. Peter's. An extension of Highway 104 to Sydney has been proposed in the past.

The Nova Scotia provincial government has designated the entire length of Highway 104 from Amherst to St. Peters as a "strategic highway" to qualify for federal cost-sharing of maintenance and future upgrades. This designation has also been applied to the remaining Trunk 4 corridor in Cape Breton along the south shore of Bras d'Or Lake from St. Peters to Sydney. It is eventually envisioned that the Trans-Canada Highway will follow the entire length of Highway 104 from Amherst to Sydney as a 4-lane freeway, upgraded from the existing two-lane freeway and uncontrolled access sections of the highway.

Fatal crashes prompt calls for twinning

In August 2010, 6 people were killed on the untwinned portion of Highway 104 between Sutherland's River, Nova Scotia, and the Canso Causeway. The mayor of Port Hawkesbury, Billy Joe MacLean, was quoted as saying to the government of Nova Scotia, "...if you thought you had people getting killed this year, there's more coming in 2011 and 2012. So please answer what we're asking for. Give us a date and time for completion of highway twinning." The province is currently building a bypass around the Town of Antigonish, but is not expected to be completed until 2012. In their recently released 5-year paving plan, Nova Scotia's Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal has no plans to twin Highway 104 to the Canso Causeway.

Exit list

Kilometre distances^{[citation needed]} are approximate.

Location	km	#	Destinations	Notes
Fort Lawrence	1	1	Trunk 2 (Laplanche Street) to Trunk 6 – Amherst, Fort Lawrence
Amherst	5	3	Trunk 6 (Victoria Street, Sunrise Trail) – Amherst, Tatamagouche, Amherst
	7	4	Trunk 2 (South Albion Street) – Amherst, Springhill, Parrsboro
Springhill, Salt Springs Station	30	5	Hwy 142 – Springhill, Parrsboro
Oxford	40	6	Route 321 to Route 204 / Route 301 – Oxford, Pugwash, River Philip
Thompson Station	49	7	Trunk 4 – Mahoney's Corner, Wentworth, Folly Lake, Thompson Station
Westchester Valley	59	8	To Trunk 4 / Wentworth-Collingwood Road – Westchester Station
Great Village	83	10	To Trunk 2 / Trunk 4 – Great Village, Bass River, Londonderry
Glenholme	89	11	Trunk 4 to Trunk 2 – Glenholme, Economy, Five Islands, Folly Lake, Wentworth
Masstown	93	12	Trunk 2 / Trunk 4 west – Masstown, Glenholme, Lower Debert	West end of Trunk 4 overlap
Lower Onslow, Debert	98	13	Debert, Lower Onslow
Truro	107	15	Hwy 102 south – Truro, Halifax Regional Municipality	Only exit to Halifax
Valley	116	17	To Route 311 (Trunk 4 east) – Bible Hill, Truro, Tatamagouche	East end of Trunk 4 overlap
Kemptown	126	18	Stevens Cross Road - Kemptown, Riversdale
Mount Thom	133	18A	Trunk 4 – Mount Thom
Salt Springs	146	19	Route 376 - Trunk 4 – Salt Springs, West River, Durham
Alma	155	20	To Trunk 4 – Pleasant Valley, Greenhill, Union Centre
Westville	159	21	Trunk 4 west to Route 289 / Cowan Street – Alma, Westville	West end of Trunk 4 overlap
Mount William	161	22	Hwy 106 (TCH) – Pictou, P.E.I. Ferry
New Glasgow	164	23	Trunk 4 / Route 289 – New Glasgow, Westville, Trenton
New Glasgow, Stellarton	165	24	Route 374- New Glasgow, Stellarton, Trenton
New Glasgow, Plymouth	167	25	Route 348- East River Road, Trunk 4 New Glasgow, Stellarton, Trenton
Thorburn	170	26	Route 348- to Trunk 4 – Thorburn, Sherbrooke
Sutherlands River	178	27A	Trunk 4 west	West end of Trunk 4 overlap; at-grade
	179	27	Trunk 4 eastRoute 245	East end of Trunk 4 overlap; at-grade
Lower Barney's River	198	29	Trunk 4 west	West end of Trunk 4 overlap; at-grade
Marshy Hope	204		Trunk 4 east	East end of Trunk 4 overlap; at-grade
James River	210	30	To Trunk 4 / Beaver Mountain Road – James River
West River	219	31A	Trunk 4 west	West end of Trunk 4 overlap; at-grade
Antigonish	221	31	Trunk 4 east	East end of Trunk 4 overlap; at-grade
	222	32	Trunk 7	At-grade
	223	33	Church Street	At-grade
Greenwold	226	34	Trunk 4 west	West end of Trunk 4 overlap; at-grade
Lower South River	230	35	Route 316 At-grade
Heatherton	238	36	Summerside Road	At-grade
	240	36A	Trunk 4 east	East end of Trunk 4 overlap; at-grade
Monastery	252	37	Trunk 4 to Trunk 16 – Monastery, Guysborough, Tracadie
Havre Boucher	262	38	Havre Boucher, Frankville, Linwood
Auld's Cove	270	39	Trunk 4 west	West end of Trunk 4 overlap; at-grade
	271	40	Route 344	At-grade
Port Hastings	274	41	Hwy 105 (TCH) east / Trunk 4 east / Trunk 19 north	Signs Used As Exit 1 Instead

Port Hawkesbury - St. Peter's section

Location	Exit	km	Intersecting Roads	Notes
Port Hawkesbury	43	283	Trunk 4
Lower River Inhabitants	44	293	Lower River Road, Port Malcolm Road	at-grade
Evanston	45	295	Evanston Road, Whiteside Road	at-grade
Louisdale	46	306	Route 320
River Bourgeois	47	316	Sporting Mountain Road
St. Peter's	-	-	Trunk 4	at-grade

References

Preceded by NB Route 2	Trans-Canada Highway Highway 104	Succeeded by Highway 105
Preceded by Highway 106