Kinkora roundabout worries local farmers

Farmers in central P.E.I. are concerned about how they will navigate their equipment around a proposed roundabout, PC MLA Jamie Fox says.

Fox said he's received many calls this week as stakes went up to mark the construction site at the intersection of the Newton and Scales Pond roads, just north of Kinkora. In the Legislature Thursday evening, he asked if the project could be postponed until consultation was done with farmers in the area.

"The farmers are worried that with the placement of this roundabout out there that it'll hamper the industry in the movement of their large equipment in that area," Fox said.

"We're talking about right in the centre of the potato belt. That's the main road that's used for a lot of oversized harvesters and six-row windrowers and so on."

Transportation Minister Paula Biggar said there have been tragedies in the past at that corner, and she doesn't want to delay the project in case there is another one.

Biggar said there will be a public information meeting before any construction work starts and the farming community will be taken into account in the planning.

She added the province's chief engineer is willing to meet with people in the area who have concerns.

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