Potholes | Province agrees to fix the problem but blames delays on weather

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By CHRIS FOX
fox.chris@dailygleaner.com

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Major work will begin on Dorn Ridge Road this week after what some residents call 30 years of neglect.

Enlarge Photo

Chris Fox

Pothole problems: Above, Brenda Luce, a resident on Dorn Ridge Road, poses next to one of the large potholes on her street. She and some of her neighbours have lobbied the government to repair the road before someone is seriously injured.

An official with the Department of Transportation says the road, which runs through a residential neighbourhood in Burtts Corner, will be patched and partially rebuilt.

There will also be major culvert and ditching work done on a gravel section near the Dorn Ridge Cemetery in September.

Local residents have been petitioning for the work, which comes at a cost of $40,000, for the last several years. Though many are happy to finally see it done, others say it's not enough.

In recent years, both sides of the road have crumbled and withered away and large potholes have appeared.

Brenda Luce, a neighbourhood resident, said the only way to make the road safe again is to repave it completely.

"This road was built up and paved in 1975. In 1979, it was chip-sealed again and since then, there has been no work done to it aside from filling the odd pothole here and there," she said.

"It's disgraceful. They might as well keep their $40,000. It is not just one place that needs to be built up - the entire road needs to be built up."

Luce said the road has become so impassable over the last year that some neighbourhood residents have started parking their cars near the start of the road and walking to their homes.

Last week, she and a few other neighbours spraypainted around the larger potholes to make them more visible, but she said she's still seen several near-accidents from motorists unfamiliar with the area.

"Two or three weeks ago, my daughter got a flat tire and a bent rim; another lady broke three belts on her tires; and I was talking to someone last night who said he broke springs," she said.

"They should be putting safety first and it should've never been allowed to get like this. There are washouts, and there's a culvert across the middle of the road that's sinking in. Somebody could easily get hurt here."

Minister of Transportation Denis Landry said he understands residents' frustrations, but lower-traffic areas such as Dorn Ridge Road aren't his department's main priority.

"We try to invest on our higher volume traffic roads first, and there are just so many kilometres of road in New Brunswick," he said. "We have 18,600 kms to take care of, and for a small province like ours, that is a lot."

Landry said he does make exceptions for roads posing a safety risk and Dorn Ridge Road is a prime example.

He said the work planned will make the road safe and ensure that it won't return to its current state anytime soon.

"I met some of the people that were having a lot of concerns a month or a month and half ago, and I said that road will certainly be fixed," he said. "I come from a rural area, and when I saw the pictures, I didn't have a choice."

Luce said she's not convinced the planned road construction will make much of a difference.

She said she wished the department held a community meeting before proceeding with what she said is a Band-Aid solution.

"People who live here should have some input on how to fix the problem," she said.

Lorna MacKenzie, who lives near the end of Dorn Ridge Road, said she understands the financial constraints the department is under.

But, she said, the road should've been kept at least passable over the last few years. In October, her husband was involved in a household accident and when an ambulance responded it tore out its oil pan on one of the potholes.

It took another hour for help to arrive at MacKenzie's house.

"Anything could have happened and you are in just a constant state of anxiety worrying about what could go wrong," she said.

"You can't leave people in a situation where they can't get emergency services. To me, that's the minimum that should be provided, so whatever the cost."

Kirk MacDonald, opposition MLA for York North, said a restructuring of Department of Transportation garages that saw both the Stanley and Millville garages turned into winter-only facilities this year is to blame for the poor condition of Dorn Ridge Road.

But Landry said that wasn't the case and blamed poor weather for delaying road work this year.