ANTIGONISH – Councillor Patrick McKenna described Bay St. as the “worst street in Antigonish” during council’s regular monthly meeting on Aug. 18.
Specifically, the elected representative was pointing out the potholes found on the stretch, particularly in front of the entrance to St. Martha’s Regional Hospital.
Because of its condition, McKenna indicated that motorists coming from The Maples – the Mount Cameron area – are resorting to driving on the opposite side of the street, when possible, to avoid the paved pitfalls.
Considering that more extended work is planned for that area as part of the second phase of the Bay St. project, which may occur next year, council and staff discussed what can be done on a temporary rather than permanent basis. The idea is that they do not want to pave and then rip it up.
Kyle Meisner, town director of infrastructure and engineering, estimated that patching in that area will cost $20,000, which will “keep it tied together for the rest of the year.”
An update on the town’s website – townofantigonish.ca – says asphalt work on Main St. was set to be installed and finished Aug. 20. This week, crews were scheduled to continue on College St. before moving on, with work and traffic control continuing throughout the day, to Fairview St., Highland Dr., Braemore Ave. and Hawthorne St.
When it comes to Hawtorne St., Coun. Juanita Pelly cautioned about, hopefully, getting that patching completed, not only before school starts – with buses hitting the roads – but also with increased traffic on that stretch related to farm and other vehicles travelling to the Eastern Nova Scotia Exhibition.
Coun. Leon MacLellan stressed the need to issue the call for patching contracts as soon as possible, noting how it could help increase interest.
Having the work ready to go earlier would help change the negative response of residents, which came as recently as this spring.
“We were getting hammered because we weren’t patching in May,” MacLellan said.
