Acadia Broadcasting File Photo
Crews have been working for over three years to twin a section of Highway 104 from Pictou County to West of Antigonish County. Today, the entire 38 kilometre stretch of road is open for for business.
Premier Tim Houston officially opened part of the newly twinned highway last week.
The project was announced in 2018 by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and cost $364.3 million, including $274.3 million from the province and up to $90 million from the Government of Canada’s National Trade Corridors Fund.
“This is an example of what we can accomplish through hard work and strong partnerships. Hundreds of people have worked so hard on this project, and I want to thank each and every one of them. Now drivers have a safer and better experience, trade flows more efficiently and our communities are better connected,” said Kim Masland, Minister of Public Works.
Crews will still be working on the road in the coming weeks to add some finishing touches, but the project means people can now travel n a twinned highway from Antigonish, all he way to the New Brunswick border.
Twinned highways driving not only much more efficient, but they are also significantly safer than two-direction highways, in part because they virtually eliminate the possibility of head-on collisions. Between 2009 and 2018, when the twinning project was announced, 320 collisions happened along the previously un-twinned stretch of Highway 104.
