Nova Scotians split on tolls to pay for twinned highways

The provincial government needs to hear from more Nova Scotians about what they think of paying tolls to get highways twinned sooner.

Transportation Minister Geoff MacLellan said the response so far is pretty evenly split between people for and against.

Last month,the province released a study looking at the possibility of twinning portions of four highways and using tolls to make it happen sooner than would otherwise be possible. That was to be followed by public consultation meetings around the province, but so far those meetings haven't happened or even been scheduled.

People want more info

MacLellan told CBC News the plan remains to have the meetings as soon as possible, but staff in his department first want to be sure they can answer everyone's questions.

There have been some email and phone responses that have suggested people want more information, said the minister.

"We just want to ensure that when we work with the consultant and figure out exactly what the consultations are going to look like, where they're going to be specifically and what specific information we're providing is accurate in getting a sense of what people want."

Making a decision like this requires feedback from as many people as possible, particularly in the communities that would be directly impacted, said MacLellan.

Antigonish wants tolls

He said the government will do more polling in hopes of getting more opinions from people since the release of the full report. MacLellan said the exception to the split view comes in the Antigonish area, where people are overwhelmingly in support of moving ahead with tolls if it means getting that section of the road twinned.

That community has seen a particular high number of fatalities along their portion of Highway 104. The fire chief in Barneys River has led the call for years to have the highway twinned.

The government has always said more twinning can happen, but for it to happen anytime in the near future it would require tolls to cover the cost of the work.

12 community meetings

"We've got to know one way or the other definitively, and that's going to be the challenge identifying that and quantifying it to ensure we're making good decisions," said MacLellan.

The minister said he expects there will be 12 community meetings around the province and the plan remains to have them as soon as possible.

"It's a priority for us."