Random Island residents take up their own shovels to repair roads
MHA Holloway says he’s lobbying transportation officials for solutions
There are many things a senior could be doing on a mild sunny day, but last Monday, Lindsay Penney was pouring buckets of gravel into potholes in his community of Britannia.
The 70-year-old is concerned for motorists using the deteriorated laneways that loop around his neighbours’ homes and connect with a church.
He scooped up material that had accumulated on the sides of the road to do the job.
“Because coming here in car you could bottom out there sometimes. It’s pretty bad,” said Penney.
He was back at it again on Sunday, the same day three young boys were repairing a cluster of potholes in nearby Hickman’s Harbour.
One pothole the boys filled was in front of the home of Daphne and Morgan Brooking.
Brooking, who declined an interview, posted about the pothole on her Facebook page a couple of weeks ago, tagging MHA Colin Holloway in that post.
In an interview, Holloway explained all roadwork is subject to the five-year Provincial Roads Plan compiled by the Department of Transportation and Works. That document was developed in 2016, after the auditor general reviewed roadwork completed in the previous 10 years.
“There were two things he concluded,” explained Holloway. “One was that nearly 50 percent of all road projects completed within that period were based on M.H.A. interference, or advocacy, or whatever
word you want to choose.
“He found that because M.H.AS were intervening in a process, the recommendations of experts and officials in departments were not given due consideration. So we thought that was inappropriate. We have staff in that department with background in engineering and other things that should be considered when you make decisions about road priorities. And so he named it as a concern.
“The other thing he said was that there was no criteria for how roads were prioritized in terms of what work got done each year.”
The criteria for prioritizing road repair now includes things such as safety and speed, traffic volumes, and economic development, explained Holloway.
“In that kind of process, roads like the T.C.H., roads that connect, say, peninsulas to the T.C.H. would get priority.
“While that’s a great process, and we’ve taken steps to correct what the auditor general had identified as some weaknesses in the process, it further complicates things for roads like those on Random Island,” he said.
The island has 11 communities of varied populations that are connected by one main road, Route 231.
According to the 2016 Census by Stats Canada, the total population is 1,172 persons.
“So we have roads on Random Island where you’ve got a low population density, and you’ve got low speeds,” says Holloway.
“It’s a 50 kilometre-per-hour zone for the most part because most of these roads connect communities. And then you’re further complicated by the fact that these roads are old. It’s been a long time since there’s been any real upgrading or real work done on those roads.”
The last time there was any major work done on these roads was in 2010, in the aftermath of Hurricane Igor. Huge sections of road on the island were completely washed away in that storm, requiring major rebuilding and repaving.
The pavement in those sections is holding up.
However, older sections of road throughout the island are riddled with potholes.
It’s not just regular vehicles using this road, either. There’s a fish plant at Hickman’s Harbour, which means a lot of transport trucks use this road daily from the start of the crab season in the spring until the end of the herring and mackerel seasons in the fall.
Holloway says since he was elected he’s looked at all roads in his district of 38 communities, identifying Random Island as one of five to six areas requiring significant investment.
“Over the last two years, we were able to do some road upgrades through Lady Cove and in through Snook’s Harbour, because people had identified that as having significant concern,” he said.
“And it’s not lost on me that we have significant concerns about the road into Petley. I have written the minister of transportation and works on two occasions now identifying the need to do something serious, and something this year,” said Holloway.
Repaving between Britannia and Petley is not set to take place until 2021-2022.
“To take it a little bit further, in February, I had a senior official with the department come out from St. John’s and we actually drove through Random Island. I sat in the passenger seat because I wanted them to drive and see it first-hand,” he said.
Although the main route was riddled with potholes that had been previously repaired, the community of Petley, which has a population of about 88 persons, caught their attention.
“When the official and I went into Petley, one of the things I heard them say is that ‘this road has to move up on the priority list,’” said Holloway.
“I fully recognize, just as the residents of Random Island do, that we can’t wait another two to three years.”
He would like the department to consider a process called ‘levelling,’ which was done last year between Hillview and St. Jones, two other areas of low population density.
“It’s basically paving over existing road, but it can work in areas where you have low population densities, low traffic volumes, and low vehicle wait (during construction),” he said, noting the final decision is out of his hands.
“The decision, obviously, is subject to budgets and to other priorities in the province, but my job is to advocate, to bring forward issues of concern on behalf of constituents, and this is one that is of concern.
“I’m going to continue to do what I can to see if we can get something done with that this summer,” he concluded.
As for the intersection in Hickman’s Harbour, Holloway has requested the area be included with culvert replacement work slated for the upcoming 2018-2019 season. Work in other communities may be completed under the summer maintenance program.
But none of this will be confirmed until roadwork goes to tender.