Highway 101 connector project sets off alarm bells for Ecology Action Centre | CBC News
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The Nova Scotia government has taken another step toward breaking ground on a five-kilometre connector that will link Hammonds Plains Road near Sandy Lake to Highway 101.
The Department of Public Works released a request for proposals Monday seeking a consultant to assess potential environmental impacts in the project area.
Jillian Ramsay, sustainable cities co-ordinator at the Ecology Action Centre, said she hopes the consultant will convince the province that the environmental cost of the project will be greater than the civic benefit.
“This will have massive environmental implications on the existing Sandy Lake Park, Sandy Lake itself, as well as the surrounding ecosystem,” said Ramsay.
The consultant hired will “identify measures to avoid, reduce or mitigate effects on wetlands, wildlife, watercourses and nearby communities,” according to the request for proposals. The deadline to apply is April 10.
Aimed at reducing congestion
The project announced in 2024 aims to reduce congestion by providing another path for drivers between Hammonds Plains and Sackville.
“Anyone who has driven in Halifax Regional Municipality has experienced the increasingly congested roads,” said Fred Tilley, minister of public works, in a news release Monday.
The municipality ranked third worst behind Vancouver and Toronto for congestion among Canadian cities last year, according to a January report by geolocation company TomTom.
But Ramsay doesn’t believe the connector, in conjunction with the 6,000-unit development planned in the area, will do much to reduce congestion.
Sandy Lake is one of 16 special planning areas HRM has designated to support the municipality’s ongoing growth strategy.
“The connector itself would go right through the special planning area,” said Ramsay, “so instead of actually relieving congestion or providing egress to existing communities, it has the potential to be acting as an on- and off-ramp.”
Ramsay said the Ecology Action Centre would like to see the province address congestion by increasing its support for improving transit across Nova Scotia.
She said while the group recognizes the need for the city to grow and develop, it wants to see it happen the right way.
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