Yarmouth Bar causeway bridge and armour stone project to start this month
A $1-million roadwork project at Yarmouth Bar is scheduled to start the week of Nov. 12 with the placement of armour stone.
Marla MacInnis, media relations advisor for Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal, says further site setup will occur the following week, weather depending.
The roadwork project includes replacement of the causeway bridge leading to Cape Forchu, along with maintenance of the seawall.
When Yarmouth MLA Zach Churchill announced the $1-million funding for the project in June, he said both the bridge and the seawall have degraded.
“The armour stone has actually sunk down a bit,” he said.
“One serious storm could do a lot of serious damage to that and, of course, the economic impact for one of our main fishing fleets coming out of there would be substantial,” he said.
Yarmouth Bar is home port to 15 to 20 fishing boats and, weather permitting, the lobster season is starting Nov. 26.
Loren Cushing, the Municipality of Yarmouth councillor for the district, says when the roadwork begins, it will be “quite busy” in that area.
“However, when is the better time to do such a major project?” he asked.
“Winter has bad weather and snow, spring has load restrictions on roads, spring fishing is ongoing, summer is tourist season and, in the fall, fishermen are getting ready for lobster fishing.”
He added he feels confident the contractor will co-operate with the fishermen and said this is a project that is long overdue.
“I’ve been told that the job, once finished, will be impressive.”