Highway 104 tree decorated in memory of 14 lives claimed by car crashes

A New Glasgow, N.S., woman has decorated a tree on the side of Highway 104 with 14 red balls to draw attention to the number of deaths that have happened on a stretch of the highway since 2009.

"It's just a quiet reminder of what that highway has done," said Tammy MacLaren.

MacLarenwould like to see the 37.8-kilometrestretch of the highway between Sutherland's River and Antigonish be twinned. She has even created an online petition for it that has gathered almost 5,300 signatures.

MacLarendecorated the tree last Saturday and even pondered putting green balls on it to make note of the number of injuries.

"There's over 300 injuries, so that would lose its effectiveness," she said.

The tree is located near the fire station in Barneys River.

MacLaren says she has no personal connection to any of the deaths, but she travels on it frequently. She says she sees near-collisions at least half the trips.

"I won't take my daughters on that highway," she said.

The stretch of highway is one of eight in the province of which the provincial governmentis having a consultant perform a feasibility study looking at twinning highways and using tolls to pay for them.

MacLaren says she supports the idea of using tolls to pay for twinning the road.