Nova Scotia Highway 104

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Part of the Sunrise Trail

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

Highway 104 mostly supplants the former route of Highway 4. In 1970, all sections of Highway 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.

1 Route
2 List of interchanges
- 2.1 Mainland Section
- 2.2 Cape Breton Section

[edit] Route

The route is 320 kilometres (199 miles) long, of which the western 177 km (110 miles) 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 is $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 the New Glasgow and Stellarton areas.

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 on a four-laned bypass is tentatively scheduled to begin in 2008. This bypass will keep traffic moving at 110 km/h (70 mph), and eliminate the various bottlenecks between Antigonish and Heatherton, including streches 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 Aulds 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 Highway 4 through the town of Port Hawkesbury. From there, another 37 km (20 mile) two-lane freeway segment follows the southern coast of Cape Breton Island to its end at Highway 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 Highway 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.

[edit] List of interchanges

Kilometre distances are approximate.

[edit] Mainland Section

Location	Exit	km	Intersecting Roads	Notes
Fort Lawrence	1	1	Fort Lawrence Road
Amherst / Fort Lawrence	2	2	Route 2 (Fort Lawrence Road, LaPlanche Street)
Amherst	3	5	Route 6 (West Victoria Street)[1]
Amherst	4	7	Route 2 (South Albion Street)
Springhill / Salt Springs Station	5	30	Highway 142 [2]
Oxford	6	40	Route 321
Thomson Station	7	49	Route 4	Former Highway 104 through Wentworth Valley; Cobequid Pass toll section begins [3]
Westchester Valley	8	59	Wentworth-Collingwood Road
Great Village	10	83	Carrobie Road
Glenholme	11	89	Route 4	Cobequid Pass toll section ends
Masstown	12	93	Route 2
Lower Onslow / Debert	13	98	McElmon Road
Truro	15	107	Highway 102	only exit to Halifax [4]
Valley	17	116	Route 4 (Pictou Road), Brookside Road
Kemptown	18	126	Stevens Cross Road
Mount Thom [5]	18A	133	Route 4
Salt Springs	19	146	Route 4
Alma	20	155	Salter Road
Westville	21	159	Route 4 (Truro Road)
Mount William	22	161	Highway 106	To PEI Ferry
New Glasgow	23	164	Route 289 (Westville Road)
New Glasgow / Stellarton	24	165	Route 374 (Stellarton Road, North Foord Street)
New Glasgow / Plymouth	25	167	Route 348 (East River Road)
Thorburn	26	170	Route 347 (Thorburn Road)
Sutherlands River	27A	178	Route 4	at-grade
Sutherlands River	27	179	Route 4, Route 245 (Shore Road)	at-grade
French River	28	185	Route 4, French River Road	at-grade
Barneys River	29	198	Route 4	at-grade
Marshy Hope [6]	29A	204	Route 4	at-grade
James River	30	210	Beaver Mountain Road
Lower West River	31A	219	Route 4	at-grade
Antigonish	31	221	James Street	at-grade
Antigonish	32	222	Route 7 (West Street)	at-grade Signalized
Antigonish	33	223	Church Street	at-grade Signalized
Greenwold	34	226	Route 4	at-grade
Lower South River	35	230	Route 316	at-grade
Heatherton	36	238	Summerside Road	at-grade
Heatherton	36A	240	Route 4	at-grade
Monastery	37	252	Route 4
Havre Boucher	38	262	Frankville Road
Aulds Cove	39	270	Route 4	at-grade
Aulds Cove	40	271	Route 344

[edit] Cape Breton Section

Location	Exit	km	Intersecting Roads	Notes
Port Hawkesbury [7]	43	283	Route 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 [8]	47	316	Sporting Mountain Road

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

	Expressways and Freeways of Nova Scotia
Highway 101 \| Highway 102 \| Highway 103 \| Highway 104 \| Highway 105 \| Highway 106 \| Highway 107 \| Highway 111 \| Highway 113 \| Highway 118 \| Highway 125 \| Highway 142 \| Highway 162
Nova Scotia Provincial Highways