Harper up for highway work

BY SARA KEDDY

editor@kingscountyregister.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

Calling two new passing lanes on Highway 101 “meaningful, shovel-ready” projects, Prime Minister Stephen Harper stood in the Berwick Department of Highways shed March 6 to drop $6.75 million into the $17.5 million job.

The work will get underway in a matter of weeks, West Nova MP Greg Kerr said, but he doesn’t know where the lanes will be. After referring the question to Nova Scotia Minister of Transportation Brooke Taylor, Taylor suggested a call to his office for locations.

Kings West Liberal MLA Leo Glavine said he has known about the planned lanes, scheduled for a 2010 start, for over a year after meeting with then N.S. highways minister Murray Scott, “but we didn’t get to see those plans in that detail.”

Those in attendance, though, applauded the announcement. The two-part project will build a widened lane this year and another next year. “We want to speed up construction of the bridges and highways that link us together and to the world, and pave the way to economic growth and prosperity,” Harper said, with Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald by his side. “Cut the red tape and get these projects up and running.”

Nova Scotia will pick up the bulk of the project’s cost, but MacDonald said the “shared” cost is a “wise investment, I believe, in the Annapolis Valley.”

Formula disappoints: Brison

That funding formula, though, surprises and disappoints Kings-Hants MP Scott Brison. “The federal Liberal partnership under Jean Chretien and Paul Martin was 50/ 50, and twinned the 101 from Mount Uniacke to Avonport. From the Harper government’s perspective, this is much stingier than previous governments have been with Nova Scotia.”

Brison said, at a time when the government is “pouring” money into projects across Canada, Harper could have done more. “I support any investment in highway infrastructure in the Valley, but there are a lot of people here who would benefit from a further twinning to Coldbrook”, as the federal Liberals had pledged.

Glavine said he’s happy with the project. “I have a file of letters from Kings West and wider Nova Scotia. This is a very good day for people who have lobbied for a long time.” ‘Gateway’ growth: Kerr

Kerr said this project makes sense: “it needs to be done, and it needed to be done 20 years ago.”

It can go ahead quickly because the province owns all the land involved and, “once the world settles down,” Kerr said, “there are 60 million people living relatively close on the U.S. Eastern seaboard. New Brunswick ministers I talk to are linking the Digby ferry with their rail line opportunities; we’re in a transition” and highway work now will position the province for future “gateway” growth.

Western Kings Board of Trade president Terri Gale said people moving to and traveling through the Valley are used to hour-long commutes and a “highway is vital” as a link to urban centres and trade routes. “Passing lanes make sense economically and for safety.”

Kerr did acknowledge “we also have to finish the 101 between Digby and Weymouth,” and Harper, pressed on any money for Highway 103 in light of recent fatalities on that road, said the 101 announcement “doesn’t preclude” any other work prioritized by partners at the provincial level.