The first part of a $900,000 feasibility study on twinning Nova Scotia highways was released on Thursday, after years of advocacy work by Nova Scotians who want to see the roadways made safer.
The study ranks eight sections of highway in the province based on a variety of criteria, including cost, traffic volume and safety.
“This is a decades-old debate governments have been lobbied for years: twin or don’t twin,” said Geoff MacLellan, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal.
Topping the list is a 71 km stretch of Highway 103 from Tantallon to Bridgewater. Highway 101 near Windsor came in second and a 37.8 km section of Highway 104 extending from Sutherlands River to Antigonish came in third.
The study estimates it would cost taxpayers $2 billion to twin 300 km of highway around the province.
“The reality is we’re decades and decades away of getting any of this large-scale twinning done at the current rate, so if we’re looking at enhancing this schedule and getting to some of these particular corridors quicker by way of twinning, then we have to look at alternative forms of financing,” said MacLellan.
Alternative financing could mean tolls, which is something the feasibility study considered.
“We developed revenue projections using a range of tolls between 6 cents and 10 cents per km of twinned highway. This was based on results on a willingness to pay survey,” said Audrey Muir, the study’s project manager.
MacLellan says adding tolls would allow government to move quicker on twinning.
“I need to be very clear: government has not made a decision to move forward with twinning through tolling,” he said. “We now have the data that will provide the foundation for a discussion with Nova Scotians.”
The study is considered to be unprecedented but for some, it’s not enough.
Bruce Hetherington has been fighting to have Highway 103 twinned for the last eight years, after losing his son Jamie in a fatal collision.
“What we have to do is get on with the work. There’s enough paperwork floating around, there’s enough dollars being spent on studies,” said Hetherington.
Chief Joe MacDonald of the Barney’s River Fire Department has also been advocating to get a section of Highway 104 twinned. He even started an online petition urging the government to act.
READ MORE: Banner calls attention to dangerous section of Nova Scotia highway
MacDonald lost his brother and sister-in-law along an untwinned section of the highway. He says he’s pleased with what the study could mean in the future.
“It’s nice to see some movement into the twinning of the highways — to see them safer for Nova Scotians. It’s all positive today.”
The second phase of the feasibility study involves getting feedback from communities around the province. Government says Nova Scotians will have the final say on how they want to proceed with twinning highways.
The full Highway Twinning Study can be viewed here.
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