The mayor of Antigonish says she’s pleased residents are engaged and asking questions regarding the redesign of an intersection in the town.
Town officials are planning a number of changes at the intersection of Main St. and Hawthorne St.; they include an island in the middle of the intersection, new traffic lights and new lines.
They awarded the contract for the work to B.D. Clifton Contracting Ltd. in February.
Laurie Boucher, the town’s mayor, tells The Hawk the price tag catches some people off-guard, but there is a lot involved.
“When they first look at it, they say ‘Wow- $600,000 to fix an intersection is a lot of money’,” she says. “When you talk about the infrastructure underground, when you talk about the water lines going into Whidden’s (Campground), when you talk about the new lighting and then re-configuring the intersection so it’s safer, people understand a lot more.”
Boucher says some infrastructure needs to be replaced anyway, so these aren’t just changes for the sake of changes.
She says they’ve had consultations with business owners in the area, and they want to minimize the interruption to those business owners.
“They’d rather their businesses not be interrupted, but they do understand that it has to be done and the reason it has to be done,” she says. “We’re at a point that the lighting is right now at the end of its life, so the lights are going to have to be changed anyway.
Boucher says work is expected to start after StFX convocation ceremonies in May, and wrap up before the Highland Games in early July.
She says the timeline allows work to be finished before the summer tourism season.
