So much so that Holownia got a note in his mailbox to let him know he wouldn\u2019t be getting any mail for awhile.<\/p>\n
\u201cCanada Post came down the road last week, and the guy was delivering this handwritten note saying, I won\u2019t be coming here if the road is in bad condition. So don\u2019t expect your mail regularly,\u201d says Holownia.<\/p>\n
Though one of Holownia\u2019s neighbours had been complaining about the road previously, prompting MLA Megan Mitton to bring the matter up in the New Brunswick legislature this week, Holownia says he thinks the fact that Canada Post stopped delivering finally inspired some action.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we started making a lot of noise to as many people as we could about Canada Post not coming down the road,\u201d says Holownia. \u201cI think that hit a bit of a nerve with somebody.\u201c<\/p>\n
The next day, Holownia says, a provincial pick up drove by and then a grader came to make a couple of passes on the road.<\/p>\n
Now, he says, you might not even notice there was ever a problem, though he doesn\u2019t expect the solution to last long.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe grading is kind of a band aid solution that happens three or four times a year,\u201d says Holownia. \u201cRight now, if you were to drive on it, you\u2019d think, this is a great road, what are people complaining about?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut as soon as it\u2019ll rain, probably this weekend,\u201d says Holownia. \u201cIt\u2019ll start loosening up the wet spots again. And so then you end up with these mucky, rutted places where you can barely drive.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mud and rutting makes it a nightmare to drive in anything but a four-wheel drive truck, says Holownia. There\u2019s about 40 per cent of the year where Holownia can\u2019t ask clients to come to his studio, because it\u2019s not passable in either direction, he says. And while he doesn\u2019t have far to go for work, he feels for other residents who have to brave the road to get to their jobs.<\/p>\n
While rural dirt roads are prone to muddiness and ruts, Holownia says he can\u2019t recall it being quite this bad before. This year, \u201cwas the worst that I can remember,\u201d says Holownia. \u201cAnd it\u2019s been bad. I think it\u2019s accumulation from years of letting it go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holownia says chip sealing the four-kilometre stretch would be the ultimate solution, but he doubts that\u2019s ever going to happen. Instead, he\u2019s hoping the road will get some attention in terms of assessing where the springs or drainage issues are, and doing structural repairs to make sure it doesn\u2019t get as bad as it did this spring.<\/p>\n
Transportation department spokesperson M\u00e9lanie Sivret told the Telegraph Journal that it\u2019s not uncommon for gravel roads to get \u201csoft and muddy\u201d at this time of year, but also that the stretch might be up for a \u201csurface upgrade\u201d in future capital programs.<\/p>\n
Holownia says he feels the maintenance over the years has fallen by the wayside, and that the quality of work being done is just not the same as it used to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s interesting, living in a place for a long time and observing how money gets spent by government,\u201d says Holownia. \u201cAnd how well trained people are in their jobs, in terms of the way they operate machinery and maintain our road. There\u2019s been a big difference over the years that I\u2019ve noticed. And I\u2019m no expert, but I\u2019m not blind to the way things work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holownia says he also noted this year\u2019s snow clearing was lower priority than previous years, and last summer, the province stopped doing treatments to prevent dust on the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just neglect,\u201d says Holownia.<\/p>\n
MLA Megan Mitton agrees. In question period at the legislature on Tuesday Mitton said, \u201cJolicure Road isn\u2019t the only road in my riding, let alone the province, that has been neglected. And it isn\u2019t just dirt roads or less traveled roads.\u201d<\/p>\n
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