Recently, provincial government officials confirmed that yet another redesign of the rotary in Port Hastings project now includes an overpass to Highway 105, multiple traffic lights, and a bypass lane coming from Port Hawkesbury, along with new roundabouts.
During a community information session on Dec. 5 at the Port Hastings Fire Hall, representatives with the province’s Department of Public Works said the project, which now has a price tag around $15 million, has a number of key goals including: improving public safety with roundabout conversion, intersection upgrades, and improving access; maintaining local connectivity from Trunk 4 to Trunk 19; and improving the traffic flow when the swing bridge is open.
Planning and preliminary design work is underway, while construction is expected to resume in the spring of 2023, with the completion of the project anticipated by the fall of 2024, the province noted.
Inverness MLA Allan MacMaster, who is also the province’s deputy premier, told the standing room only meeting that everyone deserves a chance to see the proposal and have their say on it.
Addressing the traffic issues at the sometimes confusing section of road for out-of-town motorists, the local MLA highlighted the new roundabout, which aims to take care of most of these issues, will be a very important piece of infrastructure.
After establishing the new design, MacMaster said the task will be to see if that also needs improvement, noting “whether it takes a little longer, whether it costs a little more, we’re going to have to live with it for a long time.”
Dwayne Cross, the department’s manager of highway planning and design, explained the proposed project includes a roundabout that will be constructed near the location of the existing rotary and a new storage lane for vehicles approaching the Canso Causeway from Cape Breton.
Cross said the use of traffic lights on Highway 105 and Trunk 4 is required during busy periods of swing bridge operation, ensuring the roundabout remains open to emergency vehicles and local traffic.
The province said the project will help manage vehicle lineups that form when the swing bridge is open.
Entering the new roundabout will be similar to the existing rotary, Cross said, however vehicles entering the roundabout must yield to vehicles already in the circle.
Access points to Port Hastings are being adjusted and updated to improve sight distance and safety when entering and exiting the community, the province said, noting that a bypass lane will allow vehicles coming from Port Hawkesbury on Trunk 4 to proceed to Trunk 19 without having to enter the roundabout.
Cross advised this lane is separated by a concrete median to minimize disruptions and allow the continuous flow of traffic during swing bridge operations.
While some times the wait can be as little as 10 minutes, Cross said there have been times motorists have been waiting upwards of an hour or more to get through because of delays with the bridge.
Following their presentation, department officials answered questions and listened to concerns from those in attendance. While many had concerns with travelling through the roundabout and appropriate signage, others had concerns over impacts on traffic during construction, restrictions to the causeway due to weather, and the surrounding, outdated infrastructure.
During a presentation to Inverness Municipal Council in January, 2020, Port Hawkesbury Mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton said the Strait of Canso Causeway Gateway Project was attempting to improve the “confusing design” of the rotary, and make landscaping and maintenance upgrades.
The mayor said accommodations in that area are dated, the property is in poor aesthetic shape, and there is no active transportation infrastructure around the rotary. She said the Visitor Information Centre in Port Hastings can be overhauled dramatically, and signage inviting folks to return can be erected.
Much can be done in terms of streetscapes, beautification, façade, signage and way-finding, access management, active transportation infrastructure, and possibility for new tourism assets and infrastructure, the mayor noted at the time.
The Strait of Canso Causeway Gateway Project was an effort to address those problems, the mayor said. In the project, all five municipal governments and all five First Nations joined forces with the province and federal government, as well as other stakeholders, like the Cape Breton Partnership.
The next month Chisholm-Beaton provided Port Hawkesbury Town Council with an update on the project.
Referencing a meeting she had with Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal Minister Lloyd Hines and his senior staff, Chisholm-Beaton said the minster confirmed that the project was estimated to cost approximately $5 million at that time.
A year later, when releasing the province’s five-year highway improvement plan, Hines announced plans for a new roundabout to replace the rotary, which they expected to have in the development phase by the fall of 2021.
Hines said the transportation department had been working on the project “for a number of years,” and their plans were to move the roundabout closer to Route 19.
After hosting open houses in the area in the spring of 2021, Hines said plans were to start construction by that summer.
In April of 2021, spokesperson Deborah Bayer said the province started consultations with key stakeholders including the Town of Port Hawkesbury and the Visitor Information Centre in Port Hawkesbury, and expected that phase to finish in June.
At the time, construction was scheduled to begin later in 2021, with the majority of the work taking place in 2022.
In October, 2021, Department of Public Works spokesperson Brett Loney confirmed that work started.
Around that same time, Jamie Chisholm, Director of the Eastern District for the Department of Public Works, told The Reporter the new roundabout was going to be centered west of the existing rotary.
Chisholm said the department decided to split the project into two parts because of the amount of work required.
In the first phase, which was expected to finish early in 2022, Chisholm said crews were doing “heavy ground work” which was mainly “off shoulder” work that has little impact on traffic.
Chisholm said the design work for the second phase was being finalized. He said a tender for this work was expected to come out in late winter, or early spring of 2022 which would have been for the actual construction of the roundabout.
Chisholm said crews were going to widen the west bound lane between the new roundabout and the swing bridge. He said there were going to be two lanes west bound from the new roundabout to the Canso Canal, which was expected to double the amount of available space when the swing bridge opens for marine traffic.
Along with work to the rotary, Chisholm said the signage and beautification work around the rotary was also supposed to be included in the second tender.
While there were complaints about replacing the rotary, Chisholm insisted it’s a safer option that will be less confusing. Noting there are roundabouts in Antigonish County, Whycocomagh and the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, he said they are nothing new to Strait area motorists.
During a briefing in Halifax on March 23, 2022, MacMaster said upgrades to the Port Hastings rotary were on his government’s capital list as a multi-year project.
Last spring, the province confirmed that plans to start work on the new roundabout had been delayed.
Deborah Bayer, Communications Advisor with the Department of Public Works, said the second and final phase of the Port Hastings roundabout were expected to be tendered last summer with a fall 2023 completion date. She said there were supposed to be two months of work with minimal traffic disruptions.
Starting in May 2023, Bayer said the province planned to start construction of the roundabout with approaches, gravel placement, drainage, signage, lighting, paving, and landscaping, with this work expected to be completed be the fall of 2023.
She said the decision to move it back was made last fall based on feedback during public consultations. She said this would allow the province to mitigate risks with the relocation of utilities and property acquisitions.
After years of discussion and plans, a project that was supposed to cost around $5 million and be complete by 2023, will instead cost approximately $15 million and is now expected to finish next year.
As the province itself acknowledges, the current rotary alignment isn’t safe, and from a quick drive through, it’s clear the surface is in terrible shape. In short, this step towards improvement has to start soon, so it can finish soon.
The other nagging issue is the ballooning cost. In a province with limited financial resources that are being largely directed into health care, the estimates can only increase by so much before the budget becomes unrealistic.
Perhaps MacMaster is correct that it takes time and money to do things right, but exactly how there is a limit on how much longer and how much more it will cost.