Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith P.
Such a highway from the Shubenacadie area to Windsor (failing a Truro connection to Windsor) would really improve commercial transport. Everything that comes into NS from the western provinces (most everything, therefore) would no longer need to travel all they down to Bedford and then retrace many miles to get to Windsor and points beyond in the Valley.
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Driving from Truro (and points west) to the Annapolis Valley means a 132 kilometre trek via Sackville on highway 102 and 101. You could, as an alternative, take winding highway 14 at Shubenacadie (105 km) or the very rural route 236 (95 km). They'd all take you about the same length of time.
I was always a bit surprised that trucking interests at least might not have lobbied in favour of routing a highway over the old Dominion Atlantic Railway right-of-way between Truro and Windsor after CP abandoned the line. The DAR ran in a pretty straight line, about 92 km, via Brooklyn, Kennetcook and South Maitland. As far as I know, unlike other sections of the former railbed, it has not been developed into a contiguous recreation trail system. The old railway swing bridge over the Shubenacadie River came down in the mid-80s.
It seems conceivable to me that some combination of upgrades to highway 236 and reclamation of the rail right-of-way could provide a feasible faster, safer and energy-saving link between the Valley and points west.