NOVA SCOTIA Cobequid Pass pike popular

`NOVA SCOTIA

Cobequid Pass pike

popular

The Cobequid Pass toll road (Highway 104) in Nova Scotia is operating ahead of forecast traffic after 5 months operation. Don Piercey manager of the provincially held company (Highway 104 Western Alignment Corp) managing the pike told us they are running nearly 5,000 vehicles/day. He says this compares with forecasts of about 3,500. (Two years ago we reported, TRnl#4 Jun96 p3, being told by the NS DOT the forecasts as 6k veh/day.)

The road 45km in length and 2x2-lanes motorway standard opened Nov 15 ‘97 and began tolling Dec 1. It goes through a mountainous section of the isthmus that connects the bulk of the province of Novia Scotia (NS) to New Brunswick (NB) and the mass of the north American mainland. It is part of the main link between the major port city of Halifax NS and Moncton NB, and cuts about 9km and 16mins off the journey on the old road that is now called Trunk-104. The pike has a posted speed limit of 110km/h and the old road 80km/h.

“The old road is eery to drive down. It is quite a wierd feeling for anyone who knew it before, it is so empty,” says Piercey, who is delighted with the traffic numbers. Car drivers pay $1.10 (C$1.50) if they have an electronic toll (ET) account or $2.20 (C$3) if they pay cash. Car drivers buy a transponder which is marketed under the name E-Pass for $11 and they must establish an account with a $22 deposit which goes toward the first 20 trips. Trucks pay $1.10/axle with a ET account, $1.40/axle cash..

E-Pass tags “went like crazy” Piercey says and some 6,000 are now on issue. In the first several weeks usage seemed low however. Only about 10% of transactions were ET. There were some “glitches” in the ET system so noone was quite clear exactly what was happening for a while there. The number of ET transactions is now higher. but still seems to be below the 1/3 ratio common in urban systems (daily transactions/tags on issue.)

The pre-project forecasts assumed a standard $2.20 (C$3) toll for cars regardless of payment mode, but the provincial government decided prior to opening to subsidize the locals and any other regular users who will establish a ET account. This lower toll probably explains much of the 85% transfer of traffic to the toll road as compared with the 50% diversion assumed in the forecasting. Cars are running around 3,600/day well ahead of forecast according to Don Piercey.

Heavy trucks are prohibited by regulation from using the old road and must use the toll road. The truck traffic on the pike is averaging 1,300/day, about the forecast level.

Needs snow fences

The old windy 2-lane road had a fatality every 10 weeks on average, and in accordance with expectations the toll motorway looks like being much safer. It has had 3 run-off-the road accidents but no fatality in 22 weeks operation. Major problems were snow drifts during an especially snowy winter and the operator is building a lot of new snow fences to reduce the snow plow workload in future winters.

The pike has a single barrier plaza with 3-toll lanes, one dedicated ETC and 2 manual collection toll lanes each side. At first the operator only had a single manual shift each way but Friday afternoons they couldn’t cope with the traffic and had to add an extra shift.

The summer is the time of heaviest passenger car traffic as the maritime provinces are a popular area for people for Boston and New York to visit. Traffic and revenue forecasts for the pike were done by Steer Davies Gleave of London UK for the province and by URS Greiner for the financiers.

Subsidy for e-tag

Aug 29 last the province premier Russell MacLellan announced the government would pay a $1.10 subsidy for car trips with e-tags and a 30c/axle subsidy for trucks to boost traffic. He had campaigned for the leadership saying he was against the toll. Opinion surveys had shown support for the toll was about 60% province-wide but a number of activists and trucker lobbies campaigned against it. MacLellan said in his campaign he would attempt to “address their concerns” if he got in. In office he said of the subsidy arrangement: “I am not in favor of tolls.” But that after reviewing all the options he decided the subsidy arrangement and the lower tolls for ET users were a fair compromise that maintained the fiscal status of the province.

The H104 Western Alignment Corp while fully province owned was financed on the basis of toll revenues and bond holders have no claims on the province. $44m of bond finance was arranged by the Newcourt group, and the federal and province govts put in $39m for a project that cost $80m in construction. The road was built by Atlantic Hwys a CHIC sub in 19.5mths.

Operations are also by Atlantic Hwys under a 5 year contract with the H104WAC. It uses ET equipment supplied by Amtech and set up by Sirit Corp. (See TRnl#22 Dec97 p4, TRnl#4 Jun96 p3. Contact Don Piercey H104WAC 902 422 6718)