North West Arm Drive is a provincial road and they've decided to rename the stretch

Some confusion for those visiting the area of Long Lake Provincial Park.

A street sign posted right outside the park's entrance across from Long Lake Village that used to say North West Arm Drive has been replaced by one that says Dunbrack Street.

That's because North West Arm Drive is a provincial road and they've decided to rename the stretch.

According the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal, changing the section's name to Dunbrack Street is part of their Highway 102/103 interchange project.

"There is only one residential building on this road and it already has a Dunbrack Street address so there will be no address changes and emergency response will not be affected," said a spokesperson for the department in an emailed statement.

North West Arm Dr. is in Shawn Cleary's district and the Halifax West Armdale councillor thinks renaming the road is a bad idea which could lead to confusion.

"It will have a big effect in terms of the perception people have of the road," he said. "The speed limit on the road, the fact that it's still a provincial highway, they clear the snow, we don't clear the snow."

"If it's called Dunbrack all the way down it will cause confusion so when people say, 'Hey, there's a problem on this road,' they're going to be calling the city about it instead of calling the province."

Cleary only found out about the change after the new street signs started going up.

"It would have been nice for them to contact me, to contact council, to contact our staff and let us know the change was happening, instead of just going and putting up signs without the name officially being changed," he said.

The name change is expected to come before council early next month, but Cleary said the province has the authority to force the switch through no matter what they decide.

"What happens, for whatever reason, if council decides to not rename that street? ... Would the province respect us and say, 'We'll change it back to North West Arm Drive,' or would they change the legislation and say, 'Screw you guys, we're going to do it our way anyway?'"

He added, since there hasn't been a lot of public information yet from the province, he suspects the Halifax Regional Municipality will be on the hook for an education campaign letting residents know about the change.