a missing link
Authorities are looking at plans they put in place when the Canso causeway can’t be used, as was the case months ago after a serious accident.
Only one road leads on and off the island of Cape Breton, and when it is closed, the traffic snarls can stretch for miles.
After a fatal accident closed the highway on the mainland side of the Canso Causeway last spring for five hours, and more recently, computer woes caused the swing bridge — the famous, green entry marker for the island that allows boats through the causeway — to remain stuck open several times, politicians began looking for answers.
“Many people have spoken to me about this problem and they want something done about it,” MLA Allan MacMaster said about the malfunctioning bridge. “No one can plan their day around these random openings.”
Meanwhile, Betty Ann MacQuarrie, warden of adjoining Inverness County, says her council is looking at an emergency management plan for unexpected causeway closures, whether produced by the bridge or by vehicle accidents.
“We should be receiving an updated plan soon,” MacQuarrie said Wednesday. “The existing plan, last updated in February of 2012, was put into play ... by the amount of time people had to wait in their cars after the (fatal vehicle-bicycle) accident in April.”
Traffic was held up for several hours as the RCMP reconstructed the accident.
“The emergency plan kicked in to a Level Two, and fire departments on both sides of the causeway
set up comfort stations,” MacQuarrie said. “Level Two is a three to eight-hour closure.”
The county organized an emergency measures meeting that included the RCMP, the provincial Department of Transportation, Emergency Management Office of Nova Scotia, fire departments, Emergency Health Services, the municipality, and the Nova Scotia Health Authority.
The Hawk radio station and the Red Cross are also part of the Canso Causeway Multi-Agency Emergency Management Plan.
“The number of times traffic is stopped on the Canso Causeway resulting in traffic snarls at the rotary for boats, whether they be ships or recreational crafts to pass through the canal . . . seems to be happening more often, emphasized by the increased
amount of traffic during tourism season,” MacQuarrie said.
According to MLA MacMaster, the Canadian Navigable Waters Protection Act requires the Canadian Coast Guard to open the swing bridge any time a boat pilot wishes to cross.
“While the Canadian Coast Guard reports only 15 per cent of boats crossing at the causeway are pleasure craft, there are many commercial fishing vessels which are crossing for recreational purposes,” MacMaster said.
“We cannot allow thousands of people’s lives to be disrupted. This is the only road link between mainland Canada for Cape Breton Island and Newfoundland. I will be asking the federal government to change the rule, so that the number of crossings each day for recreational boating is
limited, and avoids times when vehicle traffic is busy.”
A new road that reroutes traffic that is not headed off the island away from the rotary at the entrance to the causeway would also help, MacMaster said.
As for the problem of the bridge sticking open, MacMaster said new technology used to operate the bridge “needs to be fixed.”
“This transportation link is too important to our provincial economy.”
Port Hawkesbury mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton said, “A good offence is the best defence. It is my hope that the municipalities on both sides of the Canso Causeway be aware of the realities presented by the one exit on or off the Island of Cape Breton and plan for that, whatever the scenario.”