Construction on the final phase of the Team Gushue Highway will begin in a couple of weeks.

The provincial government has awarded the contract, valued at $30-million, to Bursey Excavating and Development for the completion of the highway, which will end in the Brookfield Road area.

The contract includes installing culverts, overpass and auxiliary access roads, and the re-alignment of a section of Brookfield Road.

While the contract is signed and work will begin soon, Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Fred Hutton admits there are still some land issues being worked out.

He says there are still negotiations happening between area residents and government, which Hutton says is a regular part of big projects.

Hutton doesn’t believe they have gone down the expropriation route as of yet, but if they did the offer would be “fair market value” for the land that would have to be used.

Bay Bulls Mayor Keith O’Driscoll says when the new highway is completed it will be “huge” for people living on the Southern Shore.

He says the new highway will get people into the middle of St. John’s in 20 minutes, whereas before the commute was anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour depending on where people wanted to go.