Safest road to drive in St. John’s in the winter
Anytime it’s snowing in St. John’s and the roads are in hard shape I always hear people say “I’m not taking the highway” referring to Pitts Memorial Drive.
Everytime I hear this I feel like defending the highway in poor driving weather.
The “Arterial” as it is called is part of the Governement of Newfoundland and Labrador’s highway infrastructure and thus it’s snowclearing is managed by the provincial government. Compared to the City of St. John’s those roads are immaculate in the snow.
Additionally the highway swurves around the turns of the hills on the southern side of St. John’s and is surrounded on both sides by thick coniferous vegetation which prevents virtually any blowing snow.
To top it off this is a popular highway where there is a lot of traffic. Even when the plows cannot keep up on the accumulation of snow the flow of traffic keeps the roads clear.
When it comes to driving in poor winter conditions I am confident there is no safer road to drive on. Outer Ring Road is a completely different story.
Sorry Greg, I have to disagree. As I now take this highway to and from work every weekend I have driven it in numerous conditions and found it was not the best kept, also not the worst, but I still recommend not taking any highway in stormy weather because icy roads mixed with speed is what causes the hazard.
I drove in from Salmonair to downtown including Pitts Memorial in my route just a few weeks ago during a storm and the Pitts Memorial leg of my journal was the second worst after the roads of the Pearl!
Vegetation on either side may be the case but I prefer not to go off the road at all