Highway 142 is a 2-lane limited-access road

Limited-access road

A limited-access road known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway and expressway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which has many or most characteristics of a controlled-access highway , including limited or no access to adjacent...

 in Cumberland County

Cumberland County, Nova Scotia

Cumberland County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.-History:The name Cumberland was applied by Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Monckton to the captured Fort Beauséjour on June 18, 1755 in honour of the third son of King George II, William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, victor at...

, Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It links Highway 104

Nova Scotia Highway 104

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

 at Exit 5 in Salt Springs Station to the town of Springhill

Springhill, Nova Scotia

-Coal mining:The first industrial coal mining in the area took place in the 1870s after a rail connection was built by the Springhill and Parrsboro Coal and Railway Company to the newly completed Intercolonial Railway at neighbouring Springhill Junction....

. The 6-kilometre highway crosses the Canadian National Railway

Canadian National Railway

The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. CN's slogan is "North America's Railroad"....

 main line about 4.5 kilometres outside Springhill. There are several logging roads that have access onto the highway.

The highway was built in the late 1960s as part of a political promise to Springhill residents who were upset that their town was bypassed by the new Trans-Canada Highway

Trans-Canada Highway

The Trans-Canada Highway is a federal-provincial highway system that joins the ten provinces of Canada. It is, along with the Trans-Siberian Highway and Australia's Highway 1, one of the world's longest national highways, with the main route spanning 8,030 km...

 alignment on Highway 104; this being less than a decade after the town's economy had been hit by the Springhill Mining Disaster

Springhill mining disaster

The term Springhill mining disaster can refer to any of three separate Canadian mining disasters which occurred in 1891, 1956, and 1958 in different mines within the Springhill coalfield, near the town of Springhill in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia....

of 1958 which resulted in the closure of local coal mining.