Another proposal to open Sydney's 'road to nowhere'

The construction of a new fire station in Sydney, N.S., has prompted renewed efforts to get a three-year-old but never-usedroad opened.

The roadconnects the Sydney Port Access Road to Victoria Road, and the new station is being built at Victoria.

Thatendis open, but the other end, facing Lingan Road, is blocked where railway tracks cross it.

Importantaccess to WhitneyPier

The fire department sees the newroadas a vital second route into the Whitney Pier neighbourhood.

"Iftherewas anything that happened on the overpass,an accident or infrastructure failure, we could haveLinganRoad to access WhitneyPier, " said deputy fire chiefGilbertMacIntyre.

The tracks belongto U.S.-basedGeneseeand Wyoming, which will not allowtrafficto cross, citing safety concernsas vehicles queueup when a train is present.

The company runs only two trains a year on those tracks.

Another rail company that ships coal on tracks across the street has also expressed concern about high traffic volumes.

Will lights work?

A solution was proposed last year that involved hiring flaggers for the times trains were on the tracks, and operating traffic lights the rest of the time. The plan was never implemented.

Nova Scotia Lands built the road, in part to facilitate development of the remediatedcoke-ovens site.

Executive project director Donnie Burkesays the Crown corporationhas come up with a new plan and submitted it to both rail companies.

"We think that can be done by timing within the lighting system there," he explained,"so by setting the times it might be a minute and a half to dump traffic on the left turning lane, twominutes to run straight up [Sydney Port Access Road]we'd have the ability through the lights to manage that traffic."

Burke says if Genesse and Wyoming doesn't respond in 30days, Nova Scotia Landswillfile a formal appeal with the Department of Transport, asking it to order that theroad be opened.

The fire station will open in October.