Motorists should get relief from Highway 102 roadwork near Truro by fall, engineer says

Motorists on Highway 102 near Truro, N.S., can expect relief from long delays later this year when construction work on the Salmon River Bridge is completed.

Work on the bridge between exits 14 and 14A on Highway 102 started in 2022.

Traffic is reduced to one lane on the bridge as work continues during the warmer months.

According to David Quinn, the acting northern district bridge engineer, the project was originally estimated to be finished by September but it is now expected to be done by October. 

Quinn said Complete Concrete Solutions is repairing the bridge substructure and work remains to be done on the bridge rail, barrier and deck. 

Repair work

The work is being undertaken during the warmer months because of the curing conditions for the concrete and issues related to the safety of motorists, he said.

"We can't have traffic control devices ... over the winter time because of the risk for icy conditions increases the risk to the motoring public and snow removal itself through that area becomes extremely challenging," Quinn said.

"The winter months are not practical to do this type of work and it's more practical to do it in spring, summer and fall."

Rehabilitating such a large structure is uncommon, Quinn said, and two construction seasons is a reasonable amount of time for it to be completed.

Laura Simpson said she experiences delays on the stretch of highway regularly when she drives to Cape Breton, most recently on Easter weekend. She said the delays are usually between 45 minutes to an hour.

"The position of the work is unfortunate because you have all of these access points and exit points to that particular stretch of highway," Simpson said.

"It's before the split off to New Brunswick and Cape Breton so there's just a huge amount of people. And on a holiday Friday it's just a huge bottleneck."

Simpson said she believes "zipper merging" would help alleviate the delays to some extent but Nova Scotia drivers seem to prefer to line up in single file to be polite.

Detour impractical

Quinn said the planners considered creating a detour through Truro but, because of the need to accommodate heavy and oversized vehicles, they decided against it.

He said detours are normally put in place when a highway is closed but a detour on the bridge isn't necessary because the highway remains open.

Quinn said in an email work on the bridge should not pose a problem for tourists any more than it does for everyday drivers.

"Any motorists who are travelling on busy travel days ... should consider using alternate exits if they are travelling to Truro such as using Exit 12 Brookfield or Exit 13 Truro Heights rather than Exit 14 Robie Street," Quinn said.

"Motorists departing Truro itself are encouraged to find alternate routes that avoid the construction zone."

Quinn said delays should be expected during peak times like long weekends and Fridays. He suggests checking 511 for traffic advisories and using a live traffic app.

He said there is no backlog at the construction site "90 per cent of the time."