News Release Archive

TRANSPORTATION/COMMUNICATIONS--IMPROVED SAFETY AT CAUSEWAY
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  A new system to sort trucks at the Canso Causeway scale
  house will reduce the number of left turns and improve
  safety, Transportation and Communications Minister Richie
  Mann said today.
  
  Weigh in motion scales in the road-bed have been linked to
  the scale house at the causeway, and a new signal system
  will indicate to drivers that they should proceed straight
  through, or report to the scale.
  
  "The weigh in motion scales determine whether trucks heading
  to Cape Breton are overweight," said Mr. Mann. The weight
  will be registered at the scale house, and, if the truck is
  overweight, the driver will be given a signal requiring a
  stop at the scale house. If the vehicle is within legal
  limits, it will be permitted to pass without stopping.
  
  Mann said, "The equipment is in place as part of a
  federal-provincial project to collect information on numbers
  and weights of vehicles. Using the equipment to reduce left
  turning trucks entering and exiting the scale house has
  addressed a safety concern expressed by many people," he
  said.
  
  He said that "the implementation of this system will improve
  safety, use existing technology more effectively, and reduce
  time delays to truckers."
  
  Scale house staff will initially operate a manual signal if
  a truck is required to stop. An automatic signal, linked to
  the scale itself, will be installed within a few months.
  
  -30-
  
  Contact: Public Affairs and Communications 902-424-8687
  
  trp                      Dec. 19, 1995