The Town of Port Hawkesbury is working to help residents get ready for a vote on a longstanding traffic debate in the community.
An open house was held Thursday night on the Reeves Street configuration to educate residents in advance of a plebiscite and show data on collisions over the past few years.
The question voters will be asked when they vote during this month’s municipal election is “Would you like to see Reeves Street returned to the 2019 four lane configuration?”
Source: Town of Port Hawkesbury
Council decided to hold a special vote – or plebiscite – on the layout of Reeves Street during a meeting in August.
The street is a main artery in the town and has been a contentious issue since it went from being four lanes to three with some turning lanes.
The idea behind the change started as part of a pilot project known as “Destination Reeves Street”. The road was repainted to three lanes to make it more of a main street in town, rather than a throughway.
Source: Town of Port Hawkesbury
However, the changes have caused some traffic congestion and confusion related to signage, but others support the reconfiguration and its intent.
Slides presented during the meeting show the number of crashes in both volume and severity from 2007 to 2023.
Source: Town of Port Hawkesbury
Discussions related to safety concerns on Reeves Street date back to 2012.
The results of the community vote on October 19 will be presented to the province, and they will ultimately decide next steps.
