Route 158 (Prince Edward Island)

Route 158, officially named Harper Road, and sometimes referred to sectionally as Leoville Road ^{(see below)}, is a 2-lane collector highway in western Prince County, Prince Edward Island, Canada. It is located 0—4 miles SW of the community of Tignish. Its maximum speed limit is 80 km/h.

The highway runs from Route 156 (Palmer Road) to Route 2 (Tignish), the Veteran's Memorial Highway, passing through the communities of Tignish, Harper, Leoville, and Palmer Road.

The highway is grossly considered as part of the Tignish district, though some may consider southern portions of the highway to be part of the St. Louis–Miminegash region.

History

The southern half of the road, from Route 156 (Palmer Road) to Route 159 (Peterville), was first paved in 1979, followed by the remainder of the road (to Route 2) in 1980. The road was entirely repaved in 1992, and sectionally repaved in 1995.

A specific section of the road, which is low to the ground and located within a marsh, has been criticized as being inappropriately paved. It was never repaved after the initial 1980 paving, and has thus been eroded significantly. In early 2006, this section (approximately 1/4 mile) became significantly eroded to the point of traffic slowing to under 10 mph while driving through. On 6 June 2006 (6/6/6) it was finally patched (not fully paved) by the government of Prince Edward Island. In a recent development, on 12 July 2006, the entire section was re-surfaced with 3 coats of quality asphalt and no longer poses a problem for motorists. A yellow line has yet to be placed on the road. Harper Road now holds a record for one of the longest non-scenic quality paved roads in rural PEI (5 miles of road).

As part of the PEI railway system (now the Confederation Trail), an overpass bridge that transported trains until 1990, crossed directly over the Harper Road at approximately 1.29 miles SW of the road's start. The location of the bridge was directly over the infamous "S" curve on the road. In 2000, under the direction of Prince Edward Island Director of Transportation, Gail Shea, the bridge was demolished and the trail was lowered to road level. Another identical bridge, located in nearby Ascension, still remains, and is the only one left on the Island. This move has cause tremendous controversy after 2 deaths and other injuries occurred as a result of vehicular collisions at the location of the removed bridge. No effort was made to straighten the road, however in late 2005 over 10 "danger of curve" signs were added throughout the curve.

On several occasions during early-to-mid 2008, the southwestern-most stop sign that contains the "Harper Rd" sign atop of it has been vandalised, knocked down, and stolen. The perpetrators are unknown, but the sign is continually re-erected by government officials.

Naming issues

Though the entire highway runs straight from Route 156 (Palmer Road) to Route 2 (Western Road) without any interruptions, the highway is sometimes considered by local residents to be two "separate roads" because of traditional naming and zoning. Since the highway contains the two separate communities of Harper and Leoville, but is entirely officially known as Harper Road [http://www.gov.pe.ca/mapguide/mapwindow_new.php3 Government website clarifying road names] (Requires plug–in). Retrieved on 26 March 2007.] , some locals avoid naming the Leoville portion of the highway as being on "Harper Road" because Leoville is seen as distinct from Harper (or Harper Road). Some will thus sometimes (inaccurately) label the Leoville portion of Route 158 as Leoville Road.

Further explanation of this issue may be to consider the fact that the community of "Harper" is widely considered to actually be named "Harper Road", much the same as the nearby community of "Palmer Road" has the actual word "road" in its community name. Though this is not so, it often leads one to assume that the distinct community of Leoville could not be part of "Harper Road" (which is actually called "Harper"), thus the actual road Leoville is located on must be called "Leoville Road" or something similar, even though it is the same continuing route.

The correct interpretation of this naming issue, as interpreted per the Government of Prince Edward Island, would suggest the following examples to clarify the issue:

*He/She lives on HARPER ROAD — HWY 158, in the community of Harper.
*He/She lives on HARPER ROAD – HWY 158, in the community of Leoville.

These examples, though common interpretation, would be wrong:

*He/She lives on HARPER ROAD – HWY 158, in the community of Harper Road.
*He/She lives on LEOVILLE ROAD – HWY 158, in the community of Leoville.

Other information

Harper Road is a secondary highway in Prince Edward Island, and is one of the busiest secondary highways in the Tignish area. Other nearby busy secondary highways include Ascension Road (Route 160), Union Road (Route 152), and Greenmount Road (Route 153). Addresses from Western Road intersection to the Gunion Road intersection receive electric power from the Elmsdale/Tignish substation, and remaining addresses from Gunion Road intersection to Palmer Road intersection receive electric power from the St. Louis/Bloomfield division. Basic cable service from Eastlink has been available for civic addresses 1—1200 on Harper Road since 1995, and High speed internet from Aliant Telecom is available from civic addresses 7–636 as of 2008. In terms of emergency services, Tignish Fire Department services civic house numbers 1 through 1100 on Harper Road, which is from the Western Road intersection south to the Provost Road intersection. Civic addresses south of there (house numbers 1101–1550) are part of Miminegash Fire Department. As for Catholic church service, generally addresses north of Peterville Road intersection are considered part of the St. Simon & St. Jude Catholic Church in Tignish, while addresses south of here are in the Immaculate Conception Parish, Palmer Road, though this is not an official dividing line.

List of roads merging from Route 158

*Western Rd – Route 2 (Harper)
*Phillip St (Tignish)
*Gunion Rd (Harper)
*Peter Rd – Route 159 (Peterville)
*Joe Pete Rd (Leoville)
*Provost Rd (Leoville)
*Spruce Ln (Harper)
*Pinetree Ln (Harper)
*Palmer Rd – Route 156 (Palmer Road)
*Andrews Ln (Harper)

ee also

*Harper
*Leoville
*Palmer Road
*Route 2 (Western Rd)
*Route 153 (Greenmount Rd)
*Route 154 (Pridham Rd)
*Route 155 (Thompson Rd)
*Route 156 (Palmer Rd)
*Route 157 (DeBlois Rd)
*Route 159 (Peter Rd)
*Route 160 (Ascension Rd)
*Tignish

References