Keswick Ridge residents still seeking answers from province over condition of ‘new’ road

Residents in the rural community of Keswick Ridge, N.B. are continuing to demand answers from the provincial government over the condition of a newly done stretch of road that’s already deteriorating.

Route 616 in Keswick Ridge was completely redone in the fall, but residents say the condition of the road is “unacceptable.”

Lloyd Maurey lives and works in the area at Ed’s Repair Shop and is one of approximately a dozen residents who gathered at the facility on Sunday to discuss the condition of the road.

“This was a political maneuver trying to give us a road that looks good for the next year, year-and-a-half leading up to the next election, that’s all that is,” Maurey said.

“It’s a waste of money, it’s an insult to us, and it’s theft.”

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He said the road started to crumble not long after it was completed in the fall.

Maurey is now one of many residents questioning what materials were used and how they were tested.  He said he also wants to know who signed off on the final inspection once construction was complete.

Carleton-York opposition MLA Carl Urquhart was in attendance at the meeting and said the road is unsafe, especially at night when it’s more difficult to see where the potholes are.

“We have everybody travelling on these roads at night — everybody’s got to get to work. “We’ve got the nurses going in, we’ve got staff going in in the middle of the night and the middle of the day and you just can’t travel it safely and get up there,” Urquhart said.

In May 2017, the province announced it would spend more than $5 million on rural roads in Charlotte and York counties, but Urquhart said that’s still not enough.

“$5 million wouldn’t fix this road … it wouldn’t do my riding, let alone every other riding,” Urquhart said.

New Brunswick Transportation Minister Bill Fraser told Global News he’s aware of the situation and said the department is working on the solution.

He said a tender went out last year and the job was given to a private contractor.

“Our crews are working to try to bring it up to a better standard,” Fraser said. “Unfortunately we’re still in winter and it’s spring-like now and that kind of adds to some of the conditions that we’re seeing with the thaw and the freeze.

“There’s a warranty on that road, so my department is working with the private contractor — or will be working with the private contractor — to make sure that road is back up to the standard that it should be,” he noted.

Fraser is asking residents to be patient and said it’s going to take some time before repairs can be done in the spring once the winter weather is over.

“Any time we issue a tender to a firm to do work, they have to do it to a certain standard, and if they don’t … then they have to be held accountable to make sure that it’s brought up to the standard they were paid to do,” Fraser said.

“So in the case of the road that we’re talking about, 616, we’re going to make sure that is… fixed,” Fraser said.

An engineer from the district engineering team signed off on the completed project, Fraser said, adding he’s spoken with the engineer and has asked him to rectify the situation.

“He and the team are working with the private contractor … who did that work to make sure that road is brought back up to the standard that it should be,” Fraser said.

The minister said crews from the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure will continue to fill the potholes throughout the winter until major repairs can be done in the spring.

Maurey said he feels that’s not good enough. He told Global News he has filed a Right to Information request with the province to find out more about the initial project specs, how often engineers came out to check on the work being done, and the quality of materials used during the construction.

“They obviously don’t know what we’ve got out here.”