CARLETON, N.S. — It took a while but an outcry by Carleton residents about a missing speed limit sign on Hwy 340 finally yielded results.
The missing 60 km/hr sign allowed motorists to drive past the Carleton Elementary School at 90 km/hr for many months. (The 90 km sign was the last one posted before the school).
It also posed a risk to residents leaving the intersecting Club Farm Road directly after a blind turn.
On March 3, Carleton resident Courtney Boudreau posted about the situation on social media, encouraging others to report the missing sign to Traffic and Infrastructure Renewal (TIR).
“I personally have been calling the (TIR) for over a month,” she wrote.
“They told me there was nothing more I could do, that I had to wait, that there was one group working for the entire province.”
Boudreau provided the department with a list of many other missing road signs.
On March 7 the 60-km speed limit sign was replaced.
“I’m glad it’s up. I’m very happy to know no one was hurt as a result of it missing,” said Boudreau.
TIR media relations advisor Marla MacInnis says when issues are reported to the department, staff review and begin work to prioritize and address them.
“We appreciate the patience of the public as we undertook its replacement,” she said.
Jennifer Cunningham, owner of Carleton Country Outfitters, says she and many others are frustrated with the number of missing highway signs in the area and the condition of the roads.
“I’ve had a directional sign that explains how to get to Weymouth and the 101 Highway and how to get to Kemptville and Shelburne that’s been gone four years,” she said.
Last year she saw the sign in the ditch. She loaded it in her truck and drove it to the Yarmouth TIR depot.
“It’s still not been replaced. There are tourists travelling to Trout Point Lodge and they don’t know where to go,” she said.
Missing signs in Carleton and area (partial list)
Signs for rural communities of Brazil Lake and Gardner’s Mill on the Brazil Lake Road have been missing for about four years.
Brazil Lake sign on the Brazil Lake Road where it meets Brenton near David Blauvelt's farm.
Brazil Lake Road sign is gone for Deerfield leaving Brenton.
At junction of Valley Crescent and Bloomfield Road adjacent to the old Pleasant Valley bridge, directional sign for Bloomfield Road and Gardner’s Mill is gone.
At the end of the Bloomfield Road at the junction of the Gardner’s Mill Road and the Brazil Lake Road, stop sign is so faded it cannot be read day or night.
Travelling in either direction on the Lake George Road, there are no signs to indicate where the Pitman Road is.
No signs on Holly Road to indicate where communities of Brazil Lake or Pleasant Valley begin and end.
It’s been years since there were signs on the Killam Road to indicate where Pleasant Valley and Deerfield begin and end.
