A popular Dartmouth walking trail has been unexpectedly blocked off, causing a lot of anxiety in the community.
City councillor Sam Austin said he heard the trail was blocked off with fences as soon as he woke up Wednesday morning.
He said some people tore those fences down, and in the afternoon the Atlantic Road Construction and Paving company came back with concrete blocks.
The blocked the entrance to trail just off of Maitland Street, but they only managed to put one concrete block down before they stopped at the Old Ferry Road entrance.
In a video provided to our newsroom, several protesters have their hands on a concrete block near the entrance as workers try to lower it into place with a crane.
A screenshot of a video that shows protesters trying to stop workers from placing a concrete barrier in the way of the Dartmouth Cove trail near the end of Old Ferry Road on August 21, 2024. (Video provided by the NDP)
“This was incredibly dangerous and reckless, and I’m glad nobody was hurt. I can’t believe the company would behave that way,” Austin told our newsroom at the scene.
“They’ve behaved in an absolutely abhorrent, lawless way, in my opinion,” he said.
Austin said the city is looking into its next steps and what their legal powers might be.
Dartmouth cove is the site of a proposed and controversial construction project that aims to dump fill, like rock and pyritic slate from construction sites, into the harbour.
Atlantic Road Construction and Paving needed approval from two government departments, Transport Canada and for the project to go ahead, it also needed approval from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
After the project faced major opposition from community groups and politicians, including Austin and Dartmouth-Cole Harbour MP Darren Fisher, Transport Canada rescinded their approval for the project.
Barrier poses safety hazard
The trail was a busy spot. In a few minutes Wednesday afternoon, more than a dozen people went by the barrier. Several people on bikes stopped in front of it, heading over some train tracks to get around the concrete.
Two elderly women said they were a little worried about tripping on the gravel or the train tracks to get around the barrier.
Fisher was on the scene, and he was not happy.
“You’ve got a trail where young kids or people with mobility issues will have to cross an actual train track to walk to their home or to walk to work, and I just don’t understand what the rationale for this is,” he said.
“I’m just disappointed. Every time I see somebody have to walk across a train track, it’s just frustrating.”
By about 3:30 p.m., the sign on the barrier was covered in paint and expletives.
The concrete barrier sits on the Dartmouth Cove trail between Maitland Street and some train tracks on August 21, 2024. (Jacob Moore/Acadia Broadcasting)
NDP Leader Claudia Chender also expressed her concern over the incident, saying the company does not have jurisdiction to put those barriers up, and they never got approval for their infill project to go ahead.
Chender says she spoke to Build Nova Scotia this morning, who told her that the company never applied for an easement, which allows construction on crown land.
She said that makes the barricade illegal.
“I think it’s time for the province to stop the silence and to ensure that this doesn’t happen and at the very least immediately ensure that these barricades are removed.”
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