The New Brunswick government says it will spend more than $5 million this construction season on rural roads in Charlotte and York counties.
They construction will focus on nine kilometres of road on Route 630 and another nine kilometres on nearby Route 3. They are key roads for communities like St. Stephen and McAdam — which thrive on the tourism they bring to the area.
“It’s one of our tourism icons and maintenance for the province and it’s important to have good infrastructure for tourists,” said New Brunswick Transportation Minister Bill Fraser. “Not only for tourists, for the safety of the local people that use those roads as well each and every day.”
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“You’ve got people coming here and you want to look good and you want to have good highways for them to drive on,” said Allan MacEachern, Mayor of St. Stephen. “They’ll always remember the bad ones”.
The Liberals cast at least some of the blame for poor roads at the previous government.
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People who use the roads stress the overall importance of maintaining infrastructure.
“You don’t have infrastructure, you don’t have business, you don’t have an economy because you need the infrastructure to keep the economy moving and keep jobs going,” said Wenda Koehler, an area resident.
The paving will take place throughout the summer and fall.
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