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Michelle Anstey and Tony Antle were excited when they moved into a new home in a rural part of Nova Scotia’s Pictou County.
But a year later, when Antle suffered a grand mal seizure and it took an ambulance more than an hour to reach their River John home because a nearby bridge was closed to traffic, Anstey feared they’d made a grave mistake.
“It really made me wonder, ‘What have we done?’” Anstey, 57, said in an interview, recalling those anxious moments in February after she called 911. “He was taking forever to come around from this seizure, and I thought he was going to die.”
Anstey later learned paramedics responding from their base about 30 minutes away weren’t aware of the bridge closure and had to backtrack to find an alternative route after coming upon the barricaded structure. Signs put in place to warn drivers of the closure had been knocked down by plows during the winter, she said.
The Welsford bridge on Old Pictou Road and the Moore’s Ford bridge on West Branch Road, which connect households to the south of River John with services like the local pharmacy and the River John Volunteer Fire Department, have been closed since August 2025.
A spokesperson for the Department of Public Works said in an email that inspections revealed structural deficiencies, causing the bridges to close. They will remain closed until they can be replaced.
Anstey isn’t alone in her concern about the closures and their impact on area residents.
James Brown, the fire department’s deputy chief, said navigating detours around the closed bridges — some of which take drivers on gravel back roads softened by spring conditions and littered with potholes — presents challenges for their work.
His department’s responsibilities extend to the West Branch area, but getting around the Moore’s Ford bridge closure can add 15 minutes to their response time, he said.
“It’s just a long detour for us,” Brown said.
He said that means there are times when firefighters from neighbouring communities are first to arrive at a scene within the River John department’s coverage area. In other cases, the River John department arrives first but backup from neighbouring departments is delayed.
The public works spokesperson said the department “recognizes the concerns” raised about the bridge closures and detours “and the resulting impacts on the community, including emergency response and daily travel.”
The department’s statement said it expects construction of a replacement for the Moore’s Ford bridge to be completed in 2028 following pre-engineering and design work. There’s no timeline for the reopening of the Welsford span but the department said it is evaluating options.
Anstey said she feels there hasn’t been enough communication about the closures and detours.
“It’s very obvious that this bridge did need to get closed … but there was no warning, and there still hasn’t been so much as a letter in the mail,” she said, noting the closures are shown on Nova Scotia’s 511 site, but not on Google Maps.
Public Works said the status of the closures is included in the department’s weekly traffic advisory posts.
A spokesperson for Emergency Medical Care Inc., the company that provides ambulance service to the province, said in an email that road closures are added to the dispatch system when they are made aware of them, providing paramedics with alternative routes to follow when responding.
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