The Albert County Chamber of Commerce had requested an immediate meeting to discuss the urgency of Albert County’s road damage and conditions. Mike and Bruce quickly accepted the invitation and dialogue. On March 7th, president Annick Butland and secretary Chris MacDonald met with both Min. Holland and Min. Fitch and discussed immediate needs as well as long-term plans. Mike identified the roads in dire need of repair for safety, we discussed budgets, challenges and potential solutions in which the chamber could provide a letter of support to encourage options of additional dollars to be invested in Albert County. Mike will be following up with specific details and numbers.
Mike also stressed the importance of the required subbase work, culvert replacements and ditching. Merely recapping/repaving with the current subsurface and drainage state will lead to the premature deterioration of the surface pavement once again. The non-shiny penny work needs to be done, and that is where he, as the local MLA, is pushing DTI.
In addition, in the upcoming budget and The Road Ahead Plan, we are not seeing much anticipation to fix the roads that are, at this point, collapsing.
During our meeting, we felt that both ministers shared our concerns about the impact on our businesses and residents. We specifically chose to meet with them both as MLAs of our county, rather than requesting a meeting with Hon. Jill Green, minister of transportation and infrastructure as we feel that they are well connected with our county and would best relate with the urgency of the situation.
In more recent communication, we have included the new president of the Albert County Tourism Association. We have also included the chair of our Digital and Physical Infrastructure Committee for the Albert County Chamber of Commerce.
We have asked for feedback, with an immediate plan to repair the most critical areas in our county. At the moment, we are still waiting. We will continue to move this urgent matter forward as it’s of great importance to the residents and business owners of Albert County; for the safety of our travellers, first impression to our visitors and the viability of our local businesses.
