Included in the Transportation Department’s capital plan for this year are plans to fix the 13.7-kilometre Lower Maccan Road that runs from Maccan to Strathcona.
“It’s fantastic news, anything is a lot better than what’s there now,” resident Dara Bourgeois said. “Ideally it would be repaved from one end to the other, but this is much better.”
Tenders have yet to be called for the project and no start date has been set, other than the fact it’s in this year’s capital plan for double chip sealing.
In total, the province plans to complete about 31 kilometres of roadwork in Cumberland County this year. It also plans to complete the replacement of the bridge at Springhill Junction and replace the Hansen Bridge on Trunk 2.
Bourgeois and other Lower Maccan residents have been lobbying the province to fix the road for several years, including writing numerous letters to previous MLA and Conservative cabinet minister Murray Scott and present Cumberland South MLA and PC Party Leader Jamie Baillie.
Steve Smith of the Transportation Department expects the work will be completed during the current construction season. He also said chip sealed roads will last.
“They are expected to last 25 years if properly maintained,” he said. “After two years, there will be another seal applied, as well as after 11 years and 17 years.”
For his part, Baillie is applauding the work.
“After many years of lobbying, the Lower Maccan Road is finally getting the attention it deserves,” Baillie said in a release. “Residents of Lower Maccan have been waiting many years for this work to be done and now it will be. I have had many discussions with Transportation Minister Bill Estabrooks and I am pleased that he has provided the funding to get this work done.”
He is concerned that while the road is being repaired, a bridge at Lynn Mountain Road will not be replaced until 2016.
Amherst Daily News
