The idea of paying tolls to twin Highway 103 isn’t a popular one.
Almost three hundred people showed up at the Best Western in Cookville last night to hear the province and consultants from CBCL Ltd. present their feasibility report on twinning Highway 103.
More than a few people thought tolls would unfairly shift the burden of paying for the twinning to South Shore residents.
@NS_TIR #NSHighways snow plow driver says no tolls. Also, there are limits on the amount of salt they are allowed to put down??? @ckbwradio pic.twitter.com/GZhRw43ffj
— Ed Halverson (@edwardhalverson) February 7, 2017
Some went so far as to call it a tax on rural Nova Scotians.
Many felt adding a couple of cents to the gas tax would more evenly spread the cost around the province.
Chief Engineer with Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal Bruce Fitzner thinks this process has opened the public’s eyes.
“I don’t think people realize how much twinning costs – it’s huge. We’re hoping that these types of sessions educate people on the actual costs, where we get our money to pay for highways, and how much we can realistically do in our current budget.”
Fitzner is pleased to see so much interest in the project.
“In some cases people are surprised that we’re actually out having these discussions. Government wants to know what people think. So we’re trying to let them, instead of us tell them what we’re thinking, we want to know what they’re thinking.”
Fitzner says in addition to the in-person meetings, Nova Scotians can let the government know what they think of tolling by completing an online survey.
He says all feedback collected from the public sessions and online submissions will be compiled and presented in a report to government by April.
After that, it will be up to the province to decide how, and if, they will come up with the $448 million dollars it will take to twin the road.
Twinning Highway 103 from Exit 5 at Tantallon to Exit 12 Bridgewater estimated to cost $448-million pic.twitter.com/jUuG2TGOJ3
— Nick Yorston (@NickYorston) February 7, 2017
