ANTIGONISH: Council heard back from the province’s minister responsible for infrastructure about a pair of local roads and a bridge.
During last week’s regular monthly meeting of the Municipality of the County of Antigonish, council heard correspondence from Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal Minister Lloyd Hines, who is also the MLA for Guysborough- Eastern Shore-Tracadie. Hines responded in a pair of letters from council about concerns over the Trunk 4-Trunk 16 intersection, as well as the Guysborough-Antigonish Road and the Caledonia Mills Bridge.
In the letter regarding the Guysborough-Antigonish Road and the Caledonia Mills Bridge, Hines said the road is not in this year’s capital program for gravel roads but it will be a candidate for a future program.
“We do have a commitment that they’re going to put lots of effort to make sure that road is kept in good condition,” said Warden Owen McCarron. “I received a number of calls in the last week with respect to the roughness of that road and the dust. Obviously, we’re going to put attention to that road this summer. With increasing volumes of traffic, we want to make sure the road is maintained to a high, high standard for the residents.”
In regards to the bridge, Hines stated he plans to ask the District Bridge Engineer to consider the bridge when prioritizing bridges in future programs but it is not on the current multi-year highway improvement plan.
In the letter regarding the Trunk 4-Trunk 16 intersection, Hines stated the department hired a consultant to complete an assessment on the intersection, which was completed by the end of April.
“As you suggested, this is a challenging intersection given the current alignment, proximity to the railway crossing, and considering rail line regulations,” stated Hines in the letter sent April 17. “A decision will be made after staff as reviewed the study and determined the best way forward.”
McCarron said the Trunk 4-Trunk 16 intersection sees a lot of traffic with people travelling back and forth to Guysborough.
“We’re just in a wait and see [position] and hopefully we’ll know before too long what the plan is,” said McCarron. “I think people have expressed concern. I know councillor [Gary] Mattie brought up, a number of times, the concerns that people have expressed to him.
“I think they’re probably going to look at straightening it out and making the approach more of a 90 degree angle to the other road and probably widening that whole intersection but until the design piece comes back for DITR, we won’t really know,” added McCarron. “I suspect they’ll be in a position within a few weeks to let us know what that’s going to look like.”