‘Perfect way to remember’
Section of highway adopted in memory of Cape Breton teen
PORT MORIEN — A Cape Breton highway is not only cleaner, it now has a compassionate touch.
A 3.2-kilometre section of the Port Morien highway has been adopted by Adele Cox of Glace Bay in memory of her daughter Leigh-Anne who died on June 5, 2020, at age 14 following a long and courageous battle with cancer.
“They told me I’m the first person in Nova Scotia to adopt a highway in memory of someone,” Cox said. “There will be signage put up saying, ‘This section of highway has been adopted in memory of Leigh-Anne.’"
Cox said her daughter would be proud.
“I think it’s a perfect way to remember Leigh-Anne,” she said. “She worried about the
Earth so much. She always said people have to start paying attention or the Earth is going to die.”
Cox heard about the adopta-highway program in September through Dylan Yates, president of the Cape Breton Environmental Association.
Yates became good friends of the family after meeting Leigh-Anne at the hospital in Halifax in 2017 after her initial diagnosis.
“He had a wheelchair for her and pushed her around the gardens and we chatted,” she said. “He has been close friends of ours since.”
In September, Yates came to visit Cox.
“I told him I’d like to do something annually for the environment in her memory,” she said.
After Yates mentioned the Nova Scotia Adopt-AHighway program, Cox was immediately interested.
Prior to the conversation with Yates, she had talked
to friend Allison Pinhorn, who lives on the Port Morien highway, about the litter problem there.
There’s a 3.2-kilometre stretch where there are no houses and an enormous amount of litter.
“Having a connection with that highway was perfect,” Cox said. “We often visited Allison and her girls.”
Cox also wanted to find the worst area, as Leigh-Anne was always helping the underdog.
“When shopping for plants the only ones she would buy would be the neglected ones that needed to be loved back to life,” she said.
After filling out paperwork and receiving approval, Cox said her responsibility now is to maintain it with two seasonal cleanups. Cox has already held a cleanup in November with the help of the Cape Breton Environmental Association and Leigh-Anne’s friends.
Forty people took part, removing 77 bags of garbage as well as an office chair, mattress, toaster oven, dehumidifier, a bag of dirty diapers and a tire on a rim.
Cox credits Yates for all of this coming together.
“I’m so thankful to have Dylan,” she said. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it without him.
THE PROGRAM
Amy Langille, program manager of the Nova Scotia Adopt-A-Highway program, said they are a non-profit organization started in 1992 and it is the first time a section of the highway has been named in memory of someone in the province.
“Adele was looking for a way to commemorate Leigh-Anne in a way her daughter would have been proud of,” she said. “I guess Leigh-Anne was very passionate about the environment.”
The program involves groups or individuals adopting a section of highway by pledging to keep that section clean with two seasonal cleanups.
Langille said they work with the Nova Scotia Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal (TIR). After the two cleanups, Langille said TIR will install signage at the end of the road with the group’s name and kilometres adopted.
“It’s basically a three-year commitment that can keep being renewed,” she said.
Requests go to TIR for approval. The 100 series highways are off limits due to safety concerns.
Since the program began in 1992, there have been 370 groups or individuals who have adopted sections of highway. There are currently 173 including eight in Cape Breton which includes a group of paramedics.
Langille said one area there is not a lot of activity with their program is Cape Breton and they hope more groups or individuals will get involved. There were 25 cleanups in Cape Breton last year as well as 24 by the Cape
Breton Environmental Association.
“Cape Bretoners are so proud and we really want to use that pride to help keep Cape Breton clean,” she said.
Langille said for anyone wanting to do a cleanup but not adopt a highway they have the Great Nova Scotia Pick-Me-Up program, a onetime cleanup of shoreline, park, trail, beach or roadside. With both programs, they provide any supplies needed and garbage removal.
LEIGH-ANNE REMEMBERED
Katie Fiore, 15, of Glace Bay, a close friend of Leigh-Anne, said she thinks the highway being named in her friend’s memory is wonderful.
“Leigh-Anne was the kindest person ever,” said Fiore, who took part in the cleanup. “To have a highway named after her to remember her, I think that’s amazing. She was passionate about the environment, loved plants and animals a lot.”
A ceremony was recently held at Oceanview Education Centre in Glace Bay to honour Leigh-Anne, a former student noted for her kindness.