‘Poor road conditions affect everyone’
CAA launches Worst Roads campaign in Atlantic Canada
The seventh annual Worst Roads campaign under the direction of the Canadian Automobile Association Atlantic launched this week in search of the roughest driving patches in these parts of Canada.
The annual campaign began in 2010 with the purpose of highlighting dangerous road conditions, according to CAA Atlantic, and has seen tens of thousands of votes cast since its inception.
“Poor road conditions affect everyone, and over the years we’ve seen communities leverage worst roads as an opportunity to bring attention to problematic roads in their region,” said Gary Howard, vice [resident of communications at CAA Atlantic, in a press release.
“In fact, plans are already underway to repair 2017’s top two worst roads.”
There’s a good chance those who use the Orangedale-Iona Road, also known as Alba Road, will nominate that route for the CAA campaign. It’s a stretch of mostly dirt road measuring an estimated 16 kms that follows the Bras d’Or Lake
“There’s barely any gravel left,” Breagh MacLean, who is part of a Facebook group about the condition of the road, told the Cape Breton Post. “My grandmother has lived on it her entire life and said they haven’t gravelled it since 1966.”
MacLean said the road is almost impassable at this time of year and it is riddled with torn up culverts.
“No one will travel that road if they don’t need to, so they go elsewhere. There are also property owners trying to sell land but can’t because potential buyers are turned away because of the road. There has been numerous complaints put in regarding the road.”
MacLean told the Post she was almost in a head-on collision because one side of the road, on a hill, has been blocked off for weeks. She also worries that the condition of the road could delay emergency services vehicles from reaching people.
Despite its condition, the road is used by area residents, hunters and fishers because it is a shorter trip for those travelling between Iona and Orangedale and for those heading towards the Marble Mountain area.
The current CAA Atlantic campaign will run until April 18 and every road in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador is eligible to be named the worst road.
Results will be tabulated after the campaign closes, after which CAA will share its top 10 list for Atlantic Canada and any available information on planned updates for each.
“One of the things we’re most proud of with this campaign is that it not only gives citizens a platform to bring attention to roads in need of repairs, it also
gives governments a forum to share repair updates or maintenance plans with the public,” said Howard.
The worst roads campaign is open to the public. Votes can
be submitted online at www.atlantic.caa.ca/worstroadssubmitted and through the CAA Atlantic Facebook page.