SHEDIAC, N.B. – A stretch of road between Shediac and Bouctouche New Brunswick will be twinned by 2017, but that’s too late for a New Brunswick family.
“Terry was a very, very dear member of our family and we lost her back in 1998, her and her unborn child. She was 27,” Green said.
Donna’s sister-in-law Terry lost her life in a head-on collision with a transport truck while traveling along Route 11. At the time, her mother wrote the government, asking that the road to be twinned.
Sixteen years later, Green says it’s “very much about time. It’s probably a little late.”
The provincial government recently announced the go-ahead to twin a stretch of Route 11. It’s a federal-provincial partnership, and will see the construction of a new 6.8 km four-lane controlled access bypass and twinning of the existing two-lane controlled access highway from Route 15 in Shediac to the south side of the Shediac River.
People who travel Route 11 say it’s been a death-trap for decades. Shediac’s mayor, Jacques LeBlanc agrees.
“You have to understand the infrastructure that’s here presently is outdated many, many, many years ago,” LeBlanc said.
More than 20,000 cars travel the stretch between Shediac and Bouctouche every day. The province said twinning the entire highway would cost $1-billion.
While Green is relieved the province is finally coming through on a promise, she fears for other people’s families until the entire route is twinned.
“To this day I really do not feel comfortable driving on the highway,” she said.
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