Salisbury residents demand a safer road

SALISBURY, N.B. – Salisbury resident Shelley Jones rides Highway 112 every day, but said the road is a hazard to travel on.

“I would describe it as dangerous,” she said. “We actually made the top ten worst roads in  Atlantic Canada.”

The highway runs through the community of Salisbury, about 23 kilometres west of Moncton.

The town’s mayor, Terry Keating, said he has heard plenty of complaints about the route.

“A lot of negative response because they just keep asking when is the road going to be repaired and we just keep saying we are looking into repairing it,” Keating said.

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Not only do Salisbury residents say the road is rough (literally), they say the speed limit is too fast and, to make worse, part of the shoulder is washing away.

“Where it runs parallel to the brook, there’s a lot of erosion taking place over the years,” Jones said. “There’s really not much for shoulders on this road.”

Cyclists using the road also say it’s risky.

“We have to swing out into the lane of traffic to avoid the potholes and the pylons. So, as soon as we get into the lane the cars start to get a little nervous,” cyclist Mike Freeman said.

Highway 112 is a provincial highway.

That means its up to the Dept. of Transportation and Infrastructure to repair it.

But Minister Claude Williams said there wasn’t any money to fix until this summer.

Williams said the department has assessed the repairs and it plans to work on the highway soon.

“We just need to get it fixed,” said Jones.

A long-awaited widening of the highway is also not likely to happen soon.

Williams says that’s not in the provinces budget for this year.