Highway 103 twinning gets new hope from Liberals

The recent change of government in Nova Scotia could signal a new hope for people fighting to twin the portion of Highway 103 between Tantallon and Bridgewater.

Geoff MacLellan, the newly-appointed Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal, said his government will live up to its pre-election promise to begin twinning at least part of the highway between Exit 5 and Exit 12.

"We will do as much as we can," he told CBC News on Monday.

"We're very aware of the challenges and the safety problems on the 103 so we're going to get started and we're looking forward to working with our federal counterparts to make sure we get a commitment and let's get working."

The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal says between 2008 and 2013, two dozen people have died in fatal collisions on Highway 103. Of those deaths, 15 of them have occurred between the Tantallon and Bridgewater exits.

Bruce Hethrington, a former city councillor whose son James was killed on a two-lane section of Highway 103 five years ago, has been campaigning for the twinning for several years.

Since the Oct. 8 election, he's been writing letters to the new Liberal government on behalf the people who drive the highway.

"These are families that are devastated by that highway and it's a joint responsibility between federal and provincial. It's a 100-series highway. Get it twinned, make it safe," he said.

"They go to work tired, they come back tired and you're only three feet between cars going 100 kilometres. It just doesn't make sense that it shouldn't be twinned."