Causeway concerns
Drilling tests have taken place over past month
The province’s transportation minister says a report on the Cape Sable Island Causeway will be available by the end of this month.
Provincial Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal ( TIR) Minister Lloyd Hines says he’s expecting an engineering report this month on the condition of the Cape Sable Island Causeway.
Drilling tests conducted on the causeway at least three times in the past month and some patchwork done earlier this winter has residents continuing to wonder and worry about the structural integrity of the structure.
Argyle-Barrington MLA Chris d’Entremont raised the issue in the House of Assembly on March 1, asking the Minister for “an update on the findings to date, and the current status of the causeway, which opened on May 1, 1949?”
Minister Hines said the department has “dispatched our people down there to view this very seriously, to determine what the solution is going to be. We haven’t got the actual report back yet, but I’m expecting it in March.”
D’Entremont also asked the Minister if he could share any plans or next steps for the project.
“For the people in Clark’s Harbour, the Hawk, Clam Point, and the rest of the residents of Cape Sable Island, the causeway is their only link to the mainland. While they would welcome work on the causeway, the disruption is something that they would certainly prefer to plan for,” he said.
In response, Minster Hines said, “Depending on the results of the report, and the extent of the remediation that might be required, we would commit to doing a public meeting in the area to explain what’s going to happen. It’s only normal that you would do that.”
The causeway has been an ongoing concern for many years. The environmental impact the structure has had on the surrounding areas, the blockage of a natural migratory route, and more recently the stability of the 69-year-old, mile-long structure are among the issues that have been brought up over the past 20 years by the community.