New Brunswick Route 108

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Route 108
Length:	202.94 km[1] (126.1 mi)
Formed:	1965
West end:	Route 2 (TCH) in Grand Falls
Major junctions:	Route 105 in Grand Falls Route 109 in Plaster Rock Route 8 in Renous
East end:	Route 8 in Derby Junction
Major cities:	Drummond, Plaster Rock, Renous

Route 108 is a highway in New Brunswick, Canada; running from Trans-Canada Highway exit 75 near Grand Falls to Route 8 exit 163 at Derby Junction (near Miramichi); a distance of 202.9 kilometres.

[edit] Routing

From the Trans-Canada Highway, Route 108 follows an access road built in 2003 to the former Trans-Canada Highway, then runs southeast along its old alignment to the edge of the town of Grand Falls. The road enters the town on Madawaska Road, passing the falls, and leaves along Tobique Road. Route 108 continues southeast through Drummond and New Denmark, and comes to a 4-way intersection at the northern outskirts of Plaster Rock. The route follows a bypass route to the south, reaching another 4-way intersection at the Route 109 junction at the south end of town.

Route 108 runs east from Plaster Rock on the Plaster Rock-Renous Highway, a 137-kilometre road, completed in the late 1960s, through entirely uninhabited forest land that is mostly owned by Fraser Papers and J.D. Irving Limited. There are no facilities or public buildings along the route, and signs warn of "winter conditions".

At Renous, Route 108 comes to an interchange with Route 8, and turns northeast along a former Route 8 alignment through Derby and Millerton to its eastern end at Derby Junction.

[edit] History

The number 108 was first applied to a New Brunswick road in 1965 when it replaced the former Route 22. The original routing followed the current Route 108 from Grand Falls to Hazeldean, the current Route 395 to Plaster Rock, and a road along the north shore of the Tobique River (present-day Routes 109 and 390 to the Tobique First Nation north of Perth-Andover.

In 1976, the Plaster Rock-Renous Highway, which was formerly part of Route 109, was renumbered as part of Route 108, and the section from Plaster Rock to the Tobique First Nation was renumbered Route 390. In 1988, Route 108 was extended northeast from Renous along the former Route 8 alignment. With the opening of the Plaster Rock bypass in 1997, the section from Hazeldean to Plaster Rock was rerouted along an upgraded former Route 393, with the former alignment of 108 becoming parts of Routes 395 and 109.

The last change to Route 108 was with the opening of the new Trans-Canada Highway routing between Grand Falls and St-Leonard in 2003, when Route 108 was extended 3 kilometres to the west to meet up with the new interchange.

[edit] References