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Route 15

History

Route 15 has been around since the start of the provincial highway system. But until the early 1970s, the highway only extended from Shediac to Port Elgin. When the Shediac Bypass opened in 1971 and the Four-Lane Highway (the first rural divided highway in New Brunswick) opened from Shediac to Moncton in 1972, Route 15 was extended southward. (The original Shediac Road was part of Route 11 until that time).

Wheeler Boulevard, a 180-degree loop around the heart of Moncton, was first proposed in the late 1960s and constructed during the 1970s and 1980s, with full completion in 1989. Access is fully controlled by interchanges except for two traffic circles at either end (one connecting to the Petitcodiac Causeway to Riverview; the other to the Shediac Four-Lane and Champlain Street in Dieppe) and one at-grade, signal-controlled intersection at Lewisville Road.

The Shediac bypass was extended eastward as a two-lane highway past Cap-Pele in 1998.

Guide

Route 15 begins at a traffic circle at the north end of the Petitcodiac Causeway, which connects Moncton to Riverview and has created an environmental nightmare on the Petitcodiac River since it opened in 1968. The route uses Wheeler Boulevard to bypass downtown Moncton, a city that has grown by leaps and bounds since the early 1990s - mostly on communications, tourism and retail development. It shows on a trip around Wheeler Boulevard - where there were once large patches of forest along the highway when it opened in the 1980s, there are now endless residential subdivisions, industrial parks and strip malls.

The Universite de Moncton, created in the 1960s as the province's first (and only) French-language university, is located off of exit 7. Just past the university, Wheeler Boulevard slows to a crawl and inexplicably comes to a traffic light at Lewisville Road. Just past the intersection is another traffic circle, on the boundary between the cities of Moncton and Dieppe, with Champlain Place (Atlantic Canada's largest shopping mall) abutting. This is the end of Wheeler Boulevard, but Route 15 continues eastward as the Veterans Memorial Highway (also known as the Shediac Four-Lane).

The first inter-city divided highway ever built in New Brunswick, the Veterans Memorial takes a straight northeast route along the Moncton-Dieppe boundary, past the Moncton Airport and a cloverleaf intersection with the Trans-Canada Highway, to the town of Shediac.

Known as the "Lobster Capital of the World", the Shediac area's lobster supply has dwindled in recent years. The big attraction these days is Parlee Beach, the most well-known beach in the province.

Route 15 now turns east along the Northumberland Strait, bypassing a handful of small Acadian fishing communities. The village of Cap-Pele ("Cape Bald") is known as a herring port.

Just east of Cap-Pele, Route 15's freeway ends and the old highway (Route 133) joins up. After passing through the small village of Shemogue, Route 15 turns south through woods to end at another traffic circle at the outskirts of Port Elgin. 

Junction/Exit List

Location	km	Exit #	Routes / Destination	Other Notes
Moncton	0.0		Route 106 - Main St., Moncton Centre; Salisbury Rd. Route 114 - Petitcodiac Causeway, Riverview	traffic circle
Moncton	0.3	0	Baig Blvd. - Moncton Industrial Park
Moncton	1.4	1 A-B	St. George St.
Moncton	3.0	3	Route 128 - Killam Dr., Berry Mills Rd.
Moncton	5.3	5	Route 126 - Mountain Rd.
Moncton	6.1	6	Mapleton Rd.	westbound only
Moncton	9.0	7	Connaught Ave. / Morton Ave.	Universite de Moncton
Moncton	9.9	8	Archibald St.
Moncton	10.6		Route 134 - Lewisville Rd. / Botsford St.	at-grade
Moncton / Dieppe	11.5		Wheeler Blvd. - to Route 106, Champlain St.	Halls Creek Traffic Circle
Dieppe	12.2	10	Paul St.
Dieppe	16.4	16	Dieppe Blvd. / Harrisville Blvd.	Moncton International Airport
Dieppe	17.9	17	Moncton International Airport	eastbound only
Dieppe	19.5	19 A-B	Route 2 - Fredericton, Sackville
Shediac	32.3	31 A-B	Route 11 - Bouctouche, Kouchibouguac, Miramichi Route 132 - Scoudouc
Shediac	37.7	37	Route 140 - Ohio Rd., Parlee Beach
Grand-Barachois	43.5	43	Route 933 - Grand-Barachois, Aboujagane
Grand-Barachois	46.1	46	Ch. Point-a-Nicet - to Route 133
Cap-Pele	52.8	53	Route 945 - Ch. Bas-Cap-Pele, Aboujagane
Cap-Pele / Portage	57.2		Route 133 - Ch. Acadie
Portage	58.0		Ch. Cormier
Portage	58.7		Ch. du Portage
Shemogue	64.8		Route 940 - Sackville
Shemogue	64.9		Route 950 - Petit-Cap
Shemogue	65.6		Collins Lake Rd.
Shemogue	67.6		Ch. Comeau
Mates Corner	69.2		Route 955 - Murray Beach
Woodside	73.3		Collins Lake Rd.
Woodside	74.5		Davis Rd.
Port Elgin	78.9		Burnside Rd.
Port Elgin	79.0		Route 16 - Sackville, P.E.I. Route 970 - Port Elgin	traffic circle

(c) 1997-2007 J.P. Kirby. All rights reserved. Sign images from the Manual of Traffic Signs by Richard Moeur.