Contending with an icy mess
Meat Cove Road nearly impassable after freezing rain formed thick layer of ice on roadway
Residents of the Meat Cove area woke up a surprise on Monday morning.
Meat Cove Road, the only road into the community, was covered in a thick layer of ice caused by freezing rain Sunday night and early Monday morning, making the road nearly impassable to vehicles.
Stephen MacDonald, area manager for the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal, said the roadway was covered in about two to three inches of ice on an eightkilometre stretch of the gravel road.
“It rained off and on for the majority of the day on Sunday and temperatures were probably up about three degrees, but that evening we experienced freezing rain for about a four- to five-hour period,” said MacDonald in a telephone interview.
“We’re always concerned about public safety and we’re very aware of the Meat Cove Road; we’ve been servicing that for as long as I can remember.”
One sand truck was dispatched to Meat Cover Road shortly after 6 a.m., Monday, to deal with icy conditions. The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal confirmed the road was its top priority for Monday morning.
“It was the first road we sanded,” said MacDonald. “We’re aware of the challenges there, it’s a challenging road, it’s very coastal with lots of hills and turns, it’s very scenic, but a very challenging road to service as far as gravel roads are concerned.”
A photo of the icy-covered road went viral on social media, Monday, with people sharing a picture taken by Jerome MacKrous. The photo was shared over 2,800 times.
Inverness County Deputy Warden Alfred Poirier, who’s also the councillor for Meat Cove, was concerned with the icy conditions, noting emergency vehicles would not have been able to travel the roadway.
“In Meat Cove . . . you can’t afford to let it (road conditions) go for a long period of time,” said Poirier. “It has to be done as soon as possible because when you have people at the other end and if there is any kind of an emergency, medically or a fire, and you can’t get through, it’s very concerning.”
The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal does have a written policy on emergency response whether it’s on a public road or even a private lane or driveway, said MacDonald.
“If we do get a call from a recognized emergency responder, whether it’s fire, police or ambulance, we dispatch whichever vehicles are the closest and we respond right away.”
The department did not receive any phone calls from emergency responders on Monday morning.
Meat Cove, a rural fishing community at the northern tip of Inverness County, has about 66-70 residents.
In August 2010, torrential rains washed away parts of the community’s only access road, leaving a number of people unable to leave the community. The bridge was repaired later that year.
MacDonald said the department can’t apply salt to gravel roads to help with the ice-melting process because it turns the road into “soft, muddy conditions,” which is why sand is used for traction.
“We have a 24-hour period that we’re supposed to have after a weather event to bring gravel roads back to the standards — if we were to get snow tonight, we would have 24 hours to have the roads cleared and opened to the public.
“We normally exceed those numbers, especially in the community of Meat Cove — we’re certainly trying our best to exceed our standards.”
MacDonald, who’s been the area manager for the department since 2010 and prior to that worked as an operation supervisor for 15 years, has seen conditions like Monday’s before.
“We will get one or two events per winter that will create problems, you get that perfect freezing rain event,” said MacDonald. “Across the province — the reports that I’ve reviewed
— there was a number of other areas that experienced some slippery roads with that freezing rain event.”
MacDonald confirmed the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal does have staff monitoring the Meat Cove Road conditions
daily.
The road wasn’t officially closed by the department, but MacDonald did note conditions were dangerous for motorists before sand was placed on the roadway.
“Somebody that had a set of chains on their car probably could have driven up the road or someone who had good studded tires,” said MacDonald.
Jennifer Clarke, spokesperson for the RCMP, said no accidents were reported in the Meat Cove area as a result of the icy roads.
According to the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal, conditions on the Meat Cove Road were steadily improving throughout the day on Monday, as temperatures began to rise.
MacDonald said he never received any calls on Tuesday regarding road conditions on Meat Cove Road.
For updates on road conditions in Nova Scotia, residents and tourists are encouraged to phone 511 for up to date road conditions.