The Nova Scotia government announced its five-year highway plan this week. (File photo by Rick Conrad)
Queens County roads are getting some attention in the province’s five-year highway improvement plan, announced this week.
Queens MLA Kim Masland, who is also Nova Scotia’s Emergency Management and Natural Resources minister, said the work locally will help with climate change.
“Our government is committed to climate-resilient infrastructure,” Masland said in a news release.
“Projects like the shoreline protection on Shore Road are vital to ensuring our roads can withstand future challenges.”
The overall $2.5-billion plan to upgrade highways, roads and bridges across Nova Scotia includes an extra $150 million planned for gravel roads.
New projects added for Queens include:
Construction of shoreline protection on Shore Road in Western Head
Paving 2.3 kilometres of the Long Cove Road in Port Medway from the Port Medway Road easterly to the end of the paved section
Upgrading 2 km of the gravel section of the Long Cove Road
Work on 0.75 km of the Ramey Road in Buckfield from Route 210 northerly to the end of the sand seal
The provincial plan includes more than 160 highway improvement projects across Nova Scotia in the coming year.
Construction timelines will depend on planning and tendering.
Road crews were working on the Mount Pleasant Road repaving on Thursday in Brooklyn. (Rick Conrad)
It’s that time of year again. The sounds of trucks and heavy machinery along with the smells of freshly laid asphalt will be popping up around Queens County as road work season gets underway.
Public Works Minister and Queens MLA Kim Masland said Thursday that more than $20 million is being spent this summer and fall on sprucing up roads and bridges around the county.
It’s part of the $583 million the government is setting aside for road and bridge work around the province this year.
“We have been very successful in advocating for some roads. But also, we have some very poor quality roads here,” Masland said.
“We are certainly getting our fair share (of work) this year. It seems like there’s never enough money to do all of the road work. But I certainly feel as MLA and certainly as minister that we’re playing catchup on some of these roads.”
Masland said that many roads in Queens County appeared to have been neglected when the Tim Houston government took over in 2021.
“I’m really happy with the work we’ve been able to do since becoming government.”
Some of that work has already begun. The 1.6-kilometre stretch of Mount Pleasant Road in Brooklyn is being repaved. That counts for about $1 million.
“That’s needed some work for a while. That’s one of the roads I really advocated for,” Masland says.
Queens MLA Kim Masland. (Rick Conrad photo)
About $8 million will be spent on ongoing work to replace the Pleasant River Bridge in North Queens.
And the long-rumoured repaving project for the Brooklyn Shore Road is slated to begin this summer, Masland says. That’s 5.5 kilometres at a cost of about $3 million from Brooklyn Wharf Road to Eastern Shore Road.
Known locally as the “shore road”, it’s the scenic route to the popular Beach Meadows Beach.
“That will be done this summer. Very, very bad road. When you drive that, you’re literally having to go over on the opposite side of the road.
“With the Brooklyn Shore Road, it has deteriorated very badly and it’s a safety issue now, so that’s why they have brought that forward as a candidate to be repaved.”
Masland says officials from her department are always driving and inspecting roads and bridges in their areas. She says that as MLA and as minister, she also nominates projects after hearing from constituents.
“The public are the ones that really drive concerns. I actually go drive many of these roads myself. If somebody calls me with a complaint about a road, I go and drive that road myself.”
Masland said the gravel road work budget this year is about $55 million, more than double what it was in 2021. And the province has also increased the bridge rehabilitation budget to $60 million. And her department is devoting $22 million toward the rural impact mitigation fund, which handles things like pavement patching and brush cutting.
“So it shows you the costs of doing these projects. They are not cheap. So to try to manage people’s expectations is certainly very difficult. Everybody’s road that they travel on is the most important. And that’s what makes it very difficult. … If I could pave everyone’s road, I would certainly pave everyone’s road because i understand that the road you travel on is the one that’s important to you.
“But there’s just not enough money to pave every road.”
She said she’s also happy to see the ongoing Highway 103 twinning project, which now reaches from Halifax to Hubbards.
“Many people from Queens certainly travel the 103 to Halifax for medical appointments, school. It just blows my mind the amount of close collisions that almost happen every day. Twinning does save lives. It is costly but you can’t put a price on a life. “
Masland says that although maintaining roads and bridges is expensive, she’s proud of the work her department is doing.
“I’m just really glad where we are now. The team’s doing great work. Our maintenance supervisor is out there talking to people, thinking outside the box on how to resolve issues and to try to get work elevated, and Queens County should be very proud of that.”
List of road and bridge projects in Queens County this summer and fall:
Brooklyn Shore Road, from Brooklyn Wharf Road to Eastern Shore Road
Mount Pleasant Road, from Trunk 3 to Brooklyn Shore Road
Reinstating two segments of retaining wall along Shore Road
Old Port Mouton Road: from Highway 103 Exit 20A to end of service
Old Westfield Road: from Trunk 8 easterly
Carters Beach Road and parking lot upgrades
East Port L’Hebert road repaving
Albany New Road, rebuilding gravel road
Trunk 3: from Broad River Road easterly to White Point Road
