The warden of Antigonish Co. says change is needed at a dangerous intersection, and it’s needed quickly.
A pair of crashes at the intersection of Trunk 4 and Beech Hill Rd. shut down that area to traffic in less than a week- a three-vehicle crash involving a transport truck left a 41-year-old man from Toronto dead Dec. 2, while Saturday’s two-vehicle crash sent two people to hospital with serious injuries.
Municipal councillors held an emergency meeting to discuss their ongoing safety concerns Monday night; they heard presentations by RCMP Sgt. Warren McBeath, Allan Kennedy, the chief of the Antigonish Co. Volunteer Fire Dept., and Basil Pitts, the area manager for the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal.
McBeath said it’s the worst intersection in Antigonish Co. in terms of frequency and severity of collision; Kennedy said they’ve responded to 18 collisions at the intersection since Jan. 2017.
After the meeting, Owen McCarron, the municipality’s warden, said they’ve been pushing their provincial counterparts to make changes to the intersection since Sept. 2017, and they can’t wait any longer.
“It really has taken longer than anybody would hope,” he said. “Now we’re at that critical point that change needs to happen, and it needs to happen quickly.”
Eight members of the public also spoke during the meeting.
Chris Smith, a resident and business owner in the Beech Hill area, said provincial officials should be ashamed of themselves for not responding to the concerns of councillors.
McCarron said it’s been too long without any action, but the most recent collisions may get things moving.
“We knew it was going to be just a matter of time, and it was unfortunate that change didn’t happen before this, but then within a week, we have another severe accident at the same intersection,” he said. “We just recognize that we need to actually amplify the concern, and get that message clearly through.”
McCarron said they’ve been told a redesign of the intersection is planned for the 2021-22 fiscal year, but that is too far away.
Councillors passed a motion at the meeting calling on their provincial counterparts to move up the intersection’s rebuild to this coming spring, and introduce a four-way stop, reduce the speed limit, and install rumble strips in the area as immediate, short-term fixes.
