Reeves Street makeover
Town of Port Hawkesbury council digests proposed road diet
An effort to put Port Hawkesbury’s main thoroughfare on a road diet is continuing to attract debate over safety concerns and how to best proceed with the makeover.
At its meeting Tuesday evening, members heard a presentation on the Destination Reeves Street project from a representative of the consultant that prepared the plan. They also heard from representatives of the Port Hawkesbury Volunteer Fire Department, which earlier this year raised safety concerns about aspects of the concept, particularly the proposal to reduce the busy provincially owned four-lane highway that runs through the centre of town to three lanes.
The road diet concept calls for reducing the number of traffic lanes in an effort to improve safety and slow traffic.
However, some town residents have expressed concern about how effective the proposed centre turning lane would be and that increased congestion will drive traffic onto residential side streets.
“We each have multiple perspectives that will inform the final design, we don’t have the final design at this point yet, the final say will be (Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal), since it’s their real estate,” Mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton said in an interview Wednesday.
At the peak of the year, there are 12,000-13,000 vehicle movements a day on Reeves Street.
Fire Chief Curtis Doucet reiterated for council his department’s concerns about traffic flow and how its members will be able to reach the fire hall to get trucks to respond to calls via a narrowed roadway.
“Our whole point … was to get it out to council and to the public that we have concerns about the proposed road diet changes to Reeves Street,” he said in an interview.
When asked by Coun. Trevor Boudreau whether he considers Reeves Street to be safe in its current state, Doucet replied “if people use common sense,” and pay attention to their surroundings.
And while Shediac, N.B., has often been cited as an area where a road diet has been successful, Doucet noted that there is a highway bypass that draws heavy truck traffic away, unlike Port Hawkesbury where trucks, particularly carrying pulp, are common.
A large percentage of the department’s fire truck operators and members live in the town’s Tamarac subdivision and Doucet said the fastest route for them to attend the fire hall in the event of a call is Trunk 4 and Reeves Street.
Doucet has said they are also concerned about the fire trucks using the proposed centre alternating turn lane and the potential for collisions with other vehicles.
He stressed they are not against the Reeves Street project, but want their concerns to be considered.
‘We each have multiple perspectives that will inform the final design, we don’t have the final design at this point yet.’ - Mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton, Town of Port Hawkesbury
‘Our whole point … was to get it out to council and to the public that we have concerns about the proposed road diet changes to Reeves Street.’ - Fire Chief Curtis Doucet,
Port Hawkesbury Volunteer
Fire Department
The tender document for the planning, design and engineering services for the project notes that it is based on a desire to transition Reeves Street to a more urban street feel, “having a downtown street appeal where people will want to work, play and reside.”
The plan includes reconfiguring it from four lanes to three for vehicle traffic, an active transportation and greenspace lane, sidewalk improvements, a street improvement program and the facade program.
Chisholm-Beaton said it is important to ensure adequate public consultation takes place for the project and called the tone of Tuesday’s discussion respectful. She said she believes it will have a positive impact on the town.
“The suggestion I made … at the council meeting was to perhaps organize a special committee of emergency personnel and the fire department being some of the membership on that special committee, just to take look at those issues in more depth and maybe put those folks in touch with some other experts and maybe they can work with Nova Scotia TIR folks,” she said.
Chisholm-Beaton said they intend to contact the RCMP and EHS to discuss the possible committee. Doucet said he had to bring the proposal back to his members but indicated he would be willing to sit on such a committee.
“You’ve always got to have dialogue,” Doucet said.