Nova Scotia drivers weeks away from free passage on province's only toll highway

Nova Scotia's only toll highway should be free for Nova Scotiadrivers by the end of the month.

Public Works Minister Kim Maslandsaidthe province has paid off the debt owing to the private corporation that built the 45-kilometre stretch of Highway 104 between Masstown and Thomson Station.

Paying off that roughly $30-milliondebt was a key step in fulfilling the obligation the province took in 1995, when it signed a deal with theHighway 104 Western Alignment Corporation tofinance, design, construct, operate and maintain the four-lane divided section of the Trans-Canada Highway.

Paying off the debt also allows the province to remove the tolls, which Masland said she expects to happen by the end of this month.

A committee made up of representatives from the various departments involved in the project are now working out the details associated with removing the tolls.

Masland said Nova Scotians will benefit from a free ride whether they're driving a personal vehicle or one for work. She said the tolls will no longer be applied to vehicles that are registered in the province,including commercial vehicles.

A decision has not been made yet with regardto out-of-province drivers.

What also still needs to be determined is how tolls will be collected fromout-of-province drivers, and what will happen to the roughly 50 people whowork at the toll plaza.

"I am aware that some people at the plaza have already moved on to different jobs because they knew that this was a commitmentof government to remove tolls," Masland said.

"We'll see what the interdepartmental committee comes up with to help those people."