PORT HOOD: Municipal councillors want to meet with provincial officials to get an update on the redesign of the Port Hastings Rotary.
During the regular monthly meeting of Inverness Municipal Council on July 7 in Port Hood, elected officials in Inverness County say they are concerned with the lack of information they are receiving about the redesign of the Port Hastings Rotary.
Deputy Warden Catherine Gillis represents the Port Hastings area, and said she has been hearing from local residents and groups.
“I was concerned with the lack of consultation, and the lack of information that we have since the project started. The last update we had was February, 2021. It was a different provincial government at the time,” she told council. “Residents in and around the rotary will all be affected by the project. I have a volunteer fire department there that has a lot of concerns as well.”
After Gillis recommended the municipality contact Nova Scotia Public Works, as well as Inverness MLA Allan MacMaster, CAO Keith MacDonald pointed out that municipal staff already reached out to the department and were awaiting a response.
Plans to start work on the new roundabout this summer were recently delayed to the fall.
Deborah Bayer, Communications Advisor with the Department of Public Works, wrote The Reporter via email that the second and final phase of the Port Hastings roundabout will be tendered later this summer with a fall 2023 completion date. Bayer said some construction will start this fall, and there will approximately two months of work with “only minimal traffic disruptions.”
The decision to delay the project was made last fall after Bayer said the department received feedback from public consultations. In addition to online, she said consultations included local municipalities like Inverness County and Port Hawkesbury, as well as local MLAs, Tourism Nova Scotia, the Port Hastings Volunteer Fire Department, Strait Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Cape Breton Gateway group.
Bayer said the delay will allow the province to “mitigate risks with the relocation of the utilities and property acquisitions.” Starting in May 2023, she said the province plans 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.
Late last year Jamie Chisholm, Director of the Eastern District for the Department of Public Works told The Reporter the new roundabout will 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 part, Chisholm said crews did “heavy ground work” which was mainly “off shoulder” work that had little impact on traffic.
In the upcoming second phase, Chisholm said crews are going to widen the west bound lane between the new roundabout and the swing bridge. He said there will be two lanes west bound from the new roundabout to the Canso Canal, which will double the amount of available space when the swing bridge opens for marine traffic.
The reason they’re planning this is to allow for a little extra storage when the bridge gets open, Chisholm said, noting that traffic gets jammed up when the bridge opens, and traffic backs up from the bridge to the existing rotary.
Chisholm said the second phase will “certainly cause disruption” to traffic.
Chisholm said the signage and beautification work – which has been discussed by local municipal councils – around the rotary will also be included in the second phase.
In addition to providing a more aesthetically pleasing welcome to Cape Breton, Chisholm said vegetation is there to focus the view of drivers to avoid distractions.
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.
The current lay-out is outdated, Chisholm said, adding the roundabout is a step in the right direction to resolve current safety issues.