A BRIDGE FAR ENOUGH
Active transportation link installed at Grants Pond
Bridge installed on Port Hawkesbury active transportation link.
The first physical component of the plan to transform Port Hawkesbury’s main thoroughfare was put in place this week, with the installation of a new bridge that will be part of an active transportation corridor.
The eye-catching structure was designed and fabricated through a collaboration involving consultant WSP, Strait Engineering, Mulgrave Machine Works and the Town of Port Hawkesbury as part of the Destination Reeves Street plan.
“The new bridge was designed to welcome residents home and to make a positive impression with visitors to our town,” said town CAO and Destination Reeves Street committee chair Terry Doyle.
“The Reeves Street committee worked extremely hard with the WSP designers so the end result is something our town can be proud of.”
The plan for Reeves Street includes reconfiguring the busy roadway from four lanes to three for vehicle traffic, an active transportation and greenspace lane, sidewalk
improvements, a street improvement program and the facade program.
The province is a partner in the project with the Town of Port Hawkesbury.
One of the intentions behind Destination Reeves Street is to transform the four-lane roadway from a street built for vehicle traffic, “to a street built for people and all the ways they move,” a town press release
states.
In addition to improving the appearance of the street, proponents of the project also intend to address concerns about safety.
The active transportation corridor is termed a “greenway trail which will go slightly off road from Reeves Street to create an accessible, paved surface for trail users. Plans call for it to be well-lit, to incorporate the natural beauty of the Grants Pond and Long Pond area, and to also be of practical use for students to safely use it.
Tom Gunn, principal of the Nova Scotia Community College’s Strait Area Campus, noted the campus has been open since 1987 without a safe active transportation lane connecting the campus to the town. There are 605 full-time and 1,100 part-time students currently enrolled at the campus.
“For more than three decades past councils have recognized the need for safe active transportation infrastructure to NSCC,” said Mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton. “The time is now to remedy this longoverdue challenge, to connect more than 1,000 students and staff, as well as residents of Embree Island to our town.”
At the peak of the year, there are 12,000-13,000 vehicle movements a day on Reeves Street. There has been talk in the town for years about the desire to improve both the appearance and function of Reeves Street, which represents the main business district for the town and is home to the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre.