(Photo: courtesy of Becky Cormier)
Last week’s heavy rain has left residents along the Albert Mines Road frustrated.
Fast moving water washed out a section of roadway, leaving it unsafe and impassable.
Resident Becky Jamieson says it’s not the first time, and she is tired of the provincial government’s bandaids, “Honestly, at this point, there should be some sort of bridge because they put the culvert in a million times and it just keeps washing out. They’ve known this. It has been put in and taken out and put in and taken out and at this point I think a bridge would be most sufficient there, because it won’t take the culvert with it, it should just underflow underneath the bridge.”
Jamieson says they are still awaiting word on when the repairs are going to be done, “We still haven’t had anyone down to even attempt to try to fix it at all really. There are 2X6 planks across the washout for the locals to actually walk across. To drive around, it’s another 15 to 20 minutes.”
She says this is an ongoing problem that is affecting tourism in that area as well, “There are tour buses that come up to the Hopewell Rocks and sometimes they would actually take the Albert Mines Road through because we have a Pottery Place on the Mines. It is a pretty well known spot for tour buses but since the Albert Mines Road has gone so downhill, it isn’t safe for the tour buses to even be on the road.”
Meantime, MLA for Albert Mike Holland says, “The washout is such that it is going to have be addressed and fixed in a significant way and it is going to have to be done as soon as possible. So now, I don’t have a specific day when it will be fixed and rolling, but we have been reassured by DTI that it is a priority and they are going to get it done, and done right.”
He says there is a myriad of backroads all throughout the Albert County riding that needs attention, “We speak regularly with the constituents and my office and it is certainly that is top of mind. It is something we are working quite literally every day to address, identify and deal with situations like that.”
Holland adds there are some areas in this riding that still have wooden culverts, “I recognized that when I walked into the job in 2018 that we’ve got some work to do. It is work that is going to have to take place over a number of years. Probably about 80 per cent of the work is identifying, working with constituents, working with DTI, finding these areas and putting plans together. What I would like to see is three to five year plans. I feel like we’ve got to have five, six years worth of consistent work addressing infrastructure issues. At that point, we’re going to have a base to work from and then we can just triage one offs as they come along.”
