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Salisbury, N.B. mayor calls for action on deteriorating roads after washout

Click to play video: 'Salisbury, N.B. mayor concerned washed out road will impact economy'
Salisbury, N.B. mayor concerned washed out road will impact economy
A washout has severely impacted access to Salisbury, N.B., a village roughly 30 km from Moncton. The mayor says the roads have been allowed to fall into disrepair for too long and he’s concerned about how that could impact the village’s economy. Suzanne Lapointe reports. – Jan 11, 2023

A washout has closed part of Route 106 West, which connects Moncton to the village of Salisbury. That has Salisbury Mayor Rob Campbell calling for action from the province on its deteriorating roads.

Route 106 West also serves as the village’s Main Street, and is important for the transportation of goods as well as tourism.

A section of the road was also washed out last February.

Campbell told Global News in an interview on Wednesday that this isn’t the only point of access that’s in disrepair.

“We have a bridge that goes from Salisbury into the Coverdale area leading into Riverview that’s a major throughway for this area that’s been shut down for now a year,” he said.

He also mentioned a culvert on nearby Reeder street that has been washed out for years.

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Traffic from the detour around the Route 106 washout is being diverted through a residential area, which Campbell said is causing further damage to roads.

“Obviously from a big trucks perspective, we are asking them to divert away and it’s about a 20-minute additional drive for them. Unfortunately, they’re not all following the guidelines that they should be doing around that,” he said.

Construction crews are currently working on installing a temporary bridge that will open one lane on Route 106 by the end of January, according to a response sent to Global News by a representative for the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure.

The full restoration will happen “in the next construction season.”

Albert MLA Mike Holland told Global News on Wednesday that the roads in his riding had been neglected for too long.

“For me, the thing that I wanted was consistency and that’s something that has been absent for several, several years,” he said in an interview.

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“A bit of work here, a bit of work there with gaps in between and my approach always was, I want to find out what we can accommodate for budget and entrench that so this year we have it, next year we have it.”

Campbell said he would be meeting with Transportation Minister Jeff Carr to discuss Salisbury’s road issues in the coming weeks.

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