District 2 councillor David Hendsbee says it's time to do something about the state of the highway before it gets worse

Highway 207 in Lawrencetown takes a beating with every storm that hits Nova Scotia.

"This hill and this part of the highway gets pummelled by every significant storm, be it a hurricane, nor'easter, or a significant weather event," says David Hendsbee, municipal councillor for the area.

Residents and beachgoers alike have had to navigate the debris strewn across the road.

"We've seen constantly over the past number of years rocks and seaweed being pushed over the highway, waves coming over the highway, even washing out part of the highway," Hendsbee tells NEWS 95.7's The Todd Veinotte Show.

The councillor says that $200,000 of repair costs have already been poured into the road in the past few years. Although the highway is a provincial road, Hendsbee says there are a lot of groups that have a stake in the matter.

"This part of Highway 207 through Lawrencetown is a critical link for the whole community," he says.

The road extends through the communities of East Lawrencetown, Three Fathom Harbour, Seaforth, West Chezzetcook and Grand Desert.

"All along those communities, if we lost this link, there'd be quite a detour to go out through Highway 107 to come back around," says Hendsbee. "So it is important that we have this link maintained."

The District 2 councillor says it's time to do something about the state of the highway before it gets worse.

"It has to be moved or reinforced," he says.

The reinforcement option could include building a retaining wall, or piling large rocks to block the surf. But Hendsbee worries his residents and tourists won't want their view of the beach blocked.

"The concern is that they're just going to pile more big rock there, and we're going to lose the panoramic view as you come over that hill and see that beach," says the councillor. "But it's a trade-off I guess."

Hendsbee says the road along the shoreline in Lawrencetown has been there since "the beginning of time" and dates back to Fort Lawrencetown in the 1750s. But rising sea levels and the intensity of storms that now pound the Eastern Shore may mean the road has to be moved altogether.

"We could possibly look at moving the highway slightly to the North and trying to keep it further away from the beach," says Hendsbee.

But the councillor also says that delicate marshlands and lakes in the area mean that options for moving the road are limited.

"We have the beach and the ocean on one side, and on the other side we have Lawrencetown Lake, the tidal lake. So we have very narrow options to go through," he explains.

In the coming weeks, Hendsbee says the provincial Department of Transportations will consult with the surfing community at Lawrencetown.

"They want to have access to the Lawrencetown Point to get out to do their surfing. They had traditionally parked at the bottom of the hill, there was a small parking area," he says. "Now that's all going to be consumed by rocks."

The councillor also met last week with the MLA for the area, Kevin Murphy. He says that if the road is moved, local land owners will also need to be in agreement.

"It's not even half a kilometre of road work but the problem is though you have to negotiate with two property owners," he says. "Any realignment is going to involve the adjacent property owners and they need to be brought into the conversation for discussions."

There is no timeline for the process yet, which would also likely involve environmental consults due to the wetland in the region.

"One of the parcels of property is a salt marsh so there has to be environment issues. Mother nature's already pushed a bunch of rock and material in there now, so it wouldn't be much to fill the rest of it in to put the roadway in." says Hendsbee. "But those kind of issues have to be looked at to mitigate the wetland loss."