Sussex-area neighbourhood wants government to slow down traffic

People living in a small neighbourhood near Sussex say vehicle traffic is passing through their area too often and too fast.

They’re worried for their own safety and want the provincial government to take action.

Gus Hanrahan said he’s sent more than fifty emails to various government departments in nine years since buying a home on Roachville Road in Roachville, west of Sussex.

That’s on top of an estimated two hundred phone calls, plus letters and a petition – all in an effort to slow down traffic in his area.

The road runs parallel to Route 10. Hanrahan said vehicle traffic from small cars to tractor trailers travel his road frequently.

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“GPS tells them that Roachville Road is shorter than (Route) 10, that it’s the shortest route,” said Hanrahan, who has a clear view of where his road connects with the secondary highway just metres away. “It’s shorter, probably by 200 feet, and that’s it, but the GPS sends them down here.”

Hanrahan said much of the problem centres around an intersection between Roachville Road and McGregor Brook Road.

Traffic using McGregor Brook Road when leaving Sussex can turn right onto Roachville Road, one of three quick right turns to access Route 10. Route 10 has a posted speed limit of 90 km/hr.

But Hanrahan said people are turning left onto Roachville Road, passing through his neighbourhood often at high rates of speed despite a posted speed limit of 60 km/hr.

Oscar Conway owns a truck repair business on Roachville Road, just east of Hanrahan’s home. Conway said he’s had a few nervous moments with unfamiliar traffic.

“I was out on the side of the road and backing a truck across the road,” Conway began. “A car come over the hill. He got stopped, and then he couldn’t wait until we got out of the road. He just went around the front, right through the door yard and around the front and away. You know, In a big hurry.”

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Sussex-Fundy-St. Martins MLA Bruce Northrup said he’s trying to get answers from the transportation and public safety departments as to why it has taken so long for some type of action to take place.

“At the end of the day, I’m scared to death that somebody will die or somebody will get severely injured because it’s a well-travelled road and it doesn’t have to be a well-travelled road when you’ve got an excellent road right next to it,” Northrup said.

Hanrahan said he wants a number of improvements, including making the road off-limits to through truck traffic.

“Reduce the speed limit to 50 (km/hr),” Hanrahan said. “And put in a speed bump down there at the top of the hill and a speed bump over (near where Roachville Road meets Route 10). Simple solutions. Cheap simple solutions.”

Conway agrees with reducing the speed limit and adding speed bumps.

“I’d like to see a mileage thing where you can see how fast you’re travelling, right at the top of the hill,” Conway said.