Some Crown Forest Roads Ready for Vehicles

Gates on forest roads on Crown land in the St. Margaret's Bay and East River areas will be open today, May 2, by 4:30 p.m.

The gates were closed because of soft roads, but are reopening now that the surfaces have hardened enough to safely accept motorized vehicles. This will allow access to the Annapolis Trail Road at St. Margaret's Bay, the Dauphinees Mill Lake Road at Exit 6 on Highway 103, and East River Road in Simms Settlement.

A connector road has been built to link the old Annapolis Trail Road, also known as the Basecamp Road, to Tote Road and the Ingramport River Road. The connector road is shown on a map at http://novascotia.ca/natr .

Some road sections may still be wet, so caution is advised.

All other gates will remain closed until road conditions in those areas improve this spring.

The road gates on all western Crown lands formerly owned by Bowater were closed to motorized vehicles last month as part of the province's management of the lands, to protect roadbeds during the spring softening period, and for the safety of vehicle drivers.

Travel on soft roads can cause severe damage that is expensive to repair. Vehicles can get stuck in remote wooded areas where cellphone coverage is weak.