AMHERST, N.S. – Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal Minister Lloyd Hines is committed to fixing a technical issue with signage leading up to the Cobequid Pass.
The minister told the Amherst News on Nov. 21 he has advised staff to get the problem fixed that prevented motorists using the highway on Nov. 19 from learning of poor weather on the 44-kilometre portion of the Trans-Canada Highway that connects Thomson Station in Cumberland County to Masstown in Colchester.
“There has always been a bit of a technical glitch there because there was no fixed fibre link to the signs,” Hines said. “I have directed the fibre link be established to those signs. It has been authorized and is now in the hopper to be done.”
Hines said estimates will be collected and a tender will be called. While it may take some time, he said it’s a priority for his department.
“Apparently it has been a problem for quite some time, but I wasn’t aware of it,” the minister said. “Now that I’ve been made aware of it I want to get it fixed.”
The minister said the issue has been at the beginning of the winter season when the signage is used to warn of bad weather or highway closures. He said once the season is underway the technical issues are fewer and farther between.
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Earlier this week, the department’s northern district director, Troy Webb, told the CBC it could cost up to $150,000 to lay cable to the two remote signs, one of which is located near Oxford and the other near Masstown in Colchester County.
During a recent storm, the westbound lanes of the Cobequid Pass were closed because of poor weather and an accident near the toll plaza, but the signs that could have advised people to stay off the highway were inoperable. Because of that, staff had to be put on the highway to manually redirect traffic to Trunk 4 through the Wentworth Valley.
Cumberland South MLA Tory Rushton said the signage issue is a huge safety concern to him.
"We're talking about 25 kilometers of road with no exits if there is bad weather or a car accident," said Rushton, who is the former chief of the Oxford Fire Department. "The longer these warning signs are out of commission, the higher the risk of people getting hurt this winter."
Rushton said Wednesday he noticed the sign near Oxford was working, advising of winter conditions ahead.
He’s pleased the minister is making it a priority.
“If you look back to 2008 and that accident that closed the highway the whole idea was to put electronic signage in place to warn people if there are problems or hazards on the highway,” Rushton said. “For me, being one of those responders who used to deal with those accidents it’s important to let people know as early as possible that there’s an accident up ahead and take a different route.”
If there is an issue with an accident or poor weather, detouring traffic – especially trucks – away from the highway enables first responders to more effectively respond.
The MLA said he’d like to see the minister meet with area MLAs, municipal representatives and first responders in both Cumberland and Colchester counties to see if the action plan needs to be updated.
“Maybe we need to revamp our response plan for that highway,” Rushton said.
The signage came out of an incident a decade ago, in 2008, when a mid-November snowstorm, coupled with a few jack-knifed tractor trailers, left as many as 1,500 vehicles stranded on the highway for more than 12 hours.
The PC critic for the Emergency Measures Office and Cumberland North MLA, Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin said the minister has failed in his duty by allowing this to continue for so long.
"We knew there was a problem with the signs. We know what the solution is. This issue falls directly at the feet of Minister Hines because he failed to take the steps to fix it," Smith-McCrossin said in a news release. "These roads are very dangerous in the winter season- it is beyond troubling to think minister Hines isn't rushing to mitigate these issues as soon as humanly possible."
Twitter: @ADNdarrell
