Road construction that caused havoc in Antigonish is expected to be done over the next couple of weeks, until spring.
West Street had the base layer of pavement poured last week, while Bay Street will have its base layer paved during the day on Thursday or Friday, depending on the weather.
Otherwise, the remaining work on both these streets including smoothing out some of the bumps around the raised manhole and other raised edges will be completed at night, assures Mayor Sean Cameron.
“Weather-wise, you need 4 degrees to lay asphalt correctly. So that’s why they’re only going to do the base layer and then come back in the spring and complete the top part of it,” says Cameron.
This year, snow events slowed down and delayed the road projects, according to him.
“The silver lining in all this is that public, staff and everyone involved recognizes we need that secondary road to the hospital, that is imperative, not only for Antigonish residents, but for people travelling from Richmond [or] from Inverness to come to our St. Martha’s Regional Hospital to receive services,” he says.
The Church Street roundabout project is provincial, and the Town was promised it would be completed by the end of October, but other issues are being fixed there.
To support businesses, the Council is focusing on promoting local shopping before Christmas, while working with the Chamber of Commerce and merchants to advertise through funding activities for their promotional draws.
There will be a debrief on the Bay Street construction held around the second week of January prior to the Council’s strategic plan to figure out how the remainder of roadwork can be less intrusive.
“The purpose of the debrief, we want to hear, as we did in that emergency session, firsthand from people that were affected. I think it’s important, the council and staff, to recognize that there’s been issues, and there’s been things that popped up that we didn’t anticipate,” expressed Cameron.
“So before we go on with phase two for Bay Street, I think it’s important to get those things in order so that we don’t repeat the same mistakes.”
He wants to hold the debrief while it’s still fresh for people following the holiday season for all opinions to be heard.
The Town may also have a town hall for it, so Council can gather input that way as well.
