She turned her sister’s memory into a petition for safer roads

There is a particular stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway in Newfoundland where the road narrows to a single ribbon of asphalt, and where two lives ended this spring as a family waited for them to come home for Easter. Erika Power and her boyfriend Kerry Sargent were driving that undivided section between Arnold’s Cove and Come by Chance when a head-on collision took them both. Now, Erika’s sister is asking the province to do what it can to make sure no other family receives that call. Sometimes grief becomes a petition, and a petition becomes a quiet demand for something better.

Faith Power launched an online petition calling on the provincial government to twin the Trans-Canada Highway across the entire island. It has gathered more than 3,500 signatures. “She may no longer be beside me, but she will always be a part of me,” Power said of her sister. “She wasn’t just someone I loved. She was woven into who I am” .

The petition argues that divided highways are safer and result in fewer fatalities. “Our highways are something so many of us rely on every day, and everyone deserves to make it home safely,” Power said. “While we can’t prevent every accident, I believe changes can be made to help prevent unnecessary loss” .

Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Barry Petten acknowledged the desire for a fully twinned highway but pointed to the scale of the undertaking. His staff has roughly estimated it could cost $6 billion to twin the T.C.H. across the province. “No life has a price tag,” Petten said, “but the reality is it just takes time and it takes money and it just can’t be done overnight.” He added that he would like to see the highway twinned as well .

There is some movement, though slower than Power would like. In 2023, the federal and provincial governments announced $306 million in funding to twin sections of the highway in the Avalon and central regions. Construction has not yet begun. According to Petten, a tender for 15 kilometers of divided highway between Bishop’s Falls and Grand Falls-Windsor will be released in the coming weeks, and a tender for 40 kilometers from Whitbourne heading west toward Arnold’s Cove will follow in 2027 .

Power described those two projects as “a good start,” but said they still leave a large section of the highway undivided. She wants the province to commit to twinning the entire route. This year has been a deadly one on Newfoundland and Labrador’s highways, with at least nine fatalities, including Power’s sister and Sargent Each of those deaths adds weight to the argument that the status quo carries its own cost.

Faith Power’s petition calls on the Newfoundland and Labrador government to twin the Trans-Canada Highway across the island after her sister Erika Power and Kerry Sargent were killed in a head-on collision in April. The province estimates a full twinning could cost $6 billion, though some projects are moving forward.

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Sources: CBC News, VOCM, NTV, Yahoo News Canada