VITAL STATISTICS:

  • LENGTH: 97 km - 58 mi
  • SOUTHERN TERMINUS: route 1, Saint John
  • NORTHERN TERMINUS: route 8, Fredericton
  • COUNTIES: Saint John, Kings, Queens, Sunbury, York
  • INCORPORATED COMMUNITIES: Saint John (72), Grand Bay-Westfield (5), Oromocto (9), Fredericton (47)
  • TWINNED SECTIONS: Fredericton (2 km), Lincoln to Oromocto (12 km), Petersville Hill area (4 km), Grand Bay to Saint John (7 km) -- 25 km total
  • MULTIPLEX: TCH/2, Lincoln to Oromocto, 12 km
  • RAILWAY CROSSINGS: NBSRR mainline, Welsford
  • RIVER VALLEY DRIVE: Fredericton to Oromocto (15 km), Grand Bay to Saint John (7 km) -- 22 km total

    • The first route 7 in the province was a very short border route from Andover to the US border, which became route 19 in 1965 and route 190 in 1984.

    The Broad Road was a new road built in the early 20th century from Oromocto to Westfield. Route 2, at the time, followed the Saint John River in this area, while the Broad Road was further inland (and shorter), so it was route 2A.

    By the 1960s, most people took the Broad Road rather than route 2 (the River Road) between Saint John and Fredericton, so the Broad Road became a full primary route, route 7. Also around this time, the first phase of the Vanier Highway in Fredericton was built, which curved up at the city limits to meet the Lincoln Road (old route 2) into Oromocto, where the Broad Road began.

    Also in the 1960s, the twinned Martinon bypass was built between Grand Bay and Saint John, where it dumped traffic out onto Fairville Boulevard on the city's west side, even though route 1 was less than a kilometre away. It was not until 1992 that this last segment of the road, to route 1, was built.

    On the other end of the road, in Fredericton, the Vanier Highway was completed to Oromocto around 1976. A short time later, the Broad Road was bypassed around the growing community of Geary, with an at-grade intersection leading into town.

    The Martinon bypass was extended by 1986 to bypass Grand Bay and Westfield as well. By 1993, portions of the Vanier Highway between Fredericton and Oromocto were twinned, although several at-grade intersections, one of which is signalized, remain in Fredericton. And in 1994, a dangerous intersection at Petersville Hill on CFB Gagetown, a military base carved out of several seized rural communities in the 1950s, was replaced by an interchange.

    This left only one section of route 7 that was completely uncontrolled-access: an 8-kilometre stretch in the Welsford area. This road was slated to be upgraded in the late 1990s, but was scrapped due to environmental concerns. This section contains a major intersection with route 101 in the middle of the small village, in addition to an at-grade railway crossing nearby. In 2001, the new TCH project from Fredericton to Moncton "piggybacked" on route 7 for a small part of the Vanier Highway through Oromocto.

    Exit list