By Mark Squibb/April 21, 2022
A sign posted near the Lower Coast causeway has been warning folks for years to use the stretch at their own risk as the road may be covered in water during high seas since at least 2013, and Trepassey Mayor Rita Pennell said the problem isn’t getting any better.
“It happens every time there’s a storm,” said Pennell. “Really what needs to be done, is that we need a new breakwater there. We need some rocks or big boulders on the ocean side to block the force of the wind and the rain and the rocks and everything. Because the storms we’re having now are not like we used to have. And what’s there now can’t stop the water, we’ll say.”
The causeway connects a tear drop shaped island in the waters of Trepassey Bay with the rest of the town. The land is home to an old military battery, the Powles Head Lighthouse, and according to some, one of the first settlements in Newfoundland courtesy of Welsh adventurer Sir William Vaughn.
Like previous big blows, the last major storm littered the road with rocks and other debris.
Pennell said the town has secured some $600,000 in provincial funding for the project, and that council is currently waiting on an engineer to assess the situation.
Council passed a motion about two weeks ago to approve the engineering at a cost of $48,000, money which will come not from the town’s pocket but the government funding.
Pennell added she believes that the provincial or federal government should take over the cost of maintaining the road.
“The town can’t afford it,” said Pennell. “Every time we have a storm it costs us a couple of thousand dollars to fix the road and take the rocks away. There’s no small-town that can keep up with it.”
