Why Highway 101 twinning has some people in the Windsor area concerned

Windsor Mayor Anna Allen has watched her community go through a minor boom in recent years. There are the new restaurants, shops, the brewery and talk of new housing developments.

But it's a development of another kind that has Allen and others concerned that growth could come to a halt.

As work progresses on twinning Highway 101 between Falmouth and Three Mile Plains, it will include the need for another crossing next to the causeway at the Avon River.

It's that crossing that has people worried because one of the options would be a design that would use a controlled tidal exchange to allow for fish to pass.

Allen and others say such an approach would see the lake next to the town fluctuate significantly with the tide and create problems that would run all the way up the river.

"It's very disturbing to think that after 45 years of using a beautiful little lake in our community, and developing our community around this lake, that we may no longer have what we have," she said Friday as she stoodnear the Pisiquid Canoe Club.

"And that would be a catastrophe."

Allan said there are also safety considerations. Local fire departments draw on the lake water for training, and when they need extra water to fight fires. Allowing salt water in through the tidal exchange would put a stop to that.

"Salt water is not a good option for our fire equipment."

Up the river in Falmouth, Jim Bremner has his own concerns. Bremner's family has been farming an area known as Castle Frederick since 1763.

While he believes any of the scenarios being considered for the new crossing would protect agricultural land from flooding, he worries about the loss of the freshwater reserve if salt water is allowed in. Allowing the lake to drop so dramatically would also reduce the river to "a small trickle in the summertime" in Bremner's area.

"We've got a mini Okanagan or Niagara region," he said from a location not far from a fork in the Avon River.

"A freshwater reserve is probably not all that important to me, in my lifetime, but it sure as hell will be important [in the future]."

Bremner expects there to be more and more emphasis on growing food for local consumption as climate change gets worse and transportation costs increase. For that to happen, farmers need access to freshwater.

"We've got a pretty unique little spot here to grow food that someday we might need."

Bremner thinks there's a way to allow for better fish passage where the new highway will be constructed while satisfying the needs of people from the causeway all the way up the river.

Other options presented by consultants to the province include maintaining the freshwater reservoir with fish passage a priority over water levels, and maintaining the reservoir with upstream water levels the priority over fish passage.

Working 'hand in hand' with community

Transportation Minister Lloyd Hines said the project is "in very early days" with work on the crossing not happening until toward the end of the project.

Hines said he's aware of the community concerns and he said they're valid. The government wants to work "hand in hand" with the community, he said.

"We want this to work for the community, this is what the whole point is," Hines said at Province House.

"We're not looking at barging in there or bullying anybody around."

Hines said Fisheries and Oceans Canada has a large say in what's acceptable for a fish pass and that's been guiding the work so far. He expected a tender for the crossing work wouldn't be ready until sometime this spring.

"We're not in any real rush to make a decision."

Meanwhile, a joint council meeting with the Town of Windsor and Municipality of the District of West Hants is scheduled next week.Allen said she hopes they can get more information from government officials and the company overseeing the twinning project at that time.

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