PORT HAWKESBURY – A long-delayed upgrade or outright replacement for the Port Hastings Rotary could become a reality, if a group of municipal, indigenous and business leaders get their way.

The main entrance-exit point to Cape Breton is travelled by an estimated 9,000 vehicles per day and is believed to be responsible for approximately 70 per cent of all traffic arriving on, or leaving, Cape Breton Island. With this in mind, Port Hawkesbury Mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton has joined forces with the Cape Breton Partnership (CBP) to push for an upgrade currently described as the Strait of Canso Causeway Gateway Strategy.

With the support of her fellow members of the Strait Area Mayors and Wardens Committee (SAMWC), Chisholm-Beaton has made presentations to the municipal councils in Victoria and Inverness Counties, the Cape Breton U’namak’I First Nations Chiefs, and Potlotek First Nation. She also plans to bring the Causeway Gateway proposal to the Cape Breton Regional Municipality and the band councils in We’koma’q and Wagmatcook First Nations in the days to come.

In the meantime, Chisholm-Beaton says she has addressed the issue with Nova Scotia’s Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal (TIR), Lloyd Hines, as well as high-level engineers within his department. Following February’s regular public meeting of Port Hawkesbury Town Council, Chisholm-Beaton said Hines gave the concept a welcome reception, and pledged to investigate its potential future placement on the department’s Five-Year Highway Plan.

The mayor pointed out that the Causeway Gateway concept would be a welcome addition to the island’s three additional entry points – specifically, airports in Sydney and Port Hastings and the Marine Atlantic Ferry Terminal in North Sydney.

“Being able to maximize the benefits of each one of those gateways and the different ways that we’re welcoming citizens and visitors to Cape Breton-U’namak’i, by land, air or sea, that does benefit each one of those gateways and maximizes our ability to welcome more people,” Chisholm-Beaton told reporters following the February council meeting at the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre.

“And if TIR is going to be making that investment and combining it with other elements of a broader project, we could look at streetscapes, facades, signage, wayfinding – we could look at establishing a new piece of tourism infrastructure that is going to be part of an experience at our gateway that will be part of the welcome to Cape Breton-U’namak’i.”