Until the mid-1990s, the highway's eastern terminus was
Havre-Saint-Pierre, but in 1996 the extension to
Natashquan was completed. A 40 km gravel section between Natashquan and Kegaska opened on September 26, 2013, with the inauguration of a bridge across the
Natashquan River. When planning Route 138, from Havre-Saint-Pierre to the
Pashashibou River, the
Quebec Ministry of Transport planned the installation of
lookouts. Visual openness, proximity to an exceptional landscape, educational potential, as well as a tourist vocation play a determining role in the choice of sites. The arrangement of lookouts invites travelers to stop in safe observation places, close to the road, preferably elevated and exposed to the winds to avoid the presence of insects. Over the 150.5 km that separate
Havre-Saint-Pierre and
Pashashibou River, Route 138 offers visual openings towards the Gulf of St. Laurent,
Pontbriand River, the villages of
Baie-Johan-Beetz and
Natashquan, etc. A second segment of about 17 km extends from Tête-à-la-Baleine's airport, east through
Tête-à-la-Baleine, to the ferry terminal southeast of Tête-à-la-Baleine. There is also a 10.7 km roadway, la route Mecatina, from Mutton Bay to a ferry terminal in
La Tabatière and continuing beyond. A third segment of Route 138 extends from
Old Fort to the
Newfoundland and Labrador border (connecting with
Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial Route 510), near
Blanc-Sablon on the eastern end of the Côte-Nord. , Bvrd. Docteur-Camille-Marcoux, Route 138),
Blanc Sablon Blanc-Sablon is located on the north coast of the
Gulf of St. Lawrence near the entrance of the
Strait of Belle Isle. A gap remains between Kegaska and Old Fort, through isolated communities accessible only by
coastal ferry. On August 25, 2006, the Quebec government announced a 10-year project to connect the two segments by building 425 km of highway along the
Lower North Shore. In 2011, the Quebec government announced an additional $122 million investment for the project over five years as part of the
Plan Nord. However, by 2013 difficulties ensued between the
Quebec Ministry of Transport and the Pakatan Corporation, who was previously responsible for managing the funding for this project, leading to the termination of agreement between the two. By this time only 12 km of this road had been built, plus some additional engineering work and
deforestation. The construction of two segments of the highway (Kegaska–La Romaine and Tête-à-la-Baleine–La Tabatière) was set to begin in 2019. A total of $232 million will be contributed to this project. In 2024 the province awarded contracts for engineering and construction of the route and bridges for the road segment between Kegaska and La Romaine. ==Municipalities along Route 138==