Darlings Island residents hope survey work signals road flooding fix
Residents have called on province to raise Darlings Island Road to avoid flooding during spring thaw
Residents of Darlings Island are hopeful some recent work by surveyors in the community means the New Brunswick government is willing to fix the only road onto the island, which is prone to flooding during the spring thaw.
Darlings Island Road has often disappeared beneath flood waters in the spring, leaving people with no way to get off the island by vehicle.
In March, the provincial government announced it wouldn't provide a shuttle boat to and from the island, located near Saint John, if the road flooded.
That prompted residents to submit a petition to fix the road, says Brad Slipp, president of the Nauwigewauk Community Club.
"The people here are hopeful that that's going to be put higher on the priority list than maybe what has been in the past, and that maybe something can get done here, whether it's this year or next year," Slipp said.
Seeing spray paint left behind by surveyors is encouraging to Tony Wong, who has lived on Darlings Island since 1992.
"The fact that they're looking at it, I would tend to believe it's going to be a positive step," he said. "I saw some stakes down on the trees indicating some height [assessments], so hopefully there's some progress being made."
Wong says since 2007, five spring thaws caused flood waters from the Kennebecasis River to cover the only access road to the island, leaving it impassable.
"This spring, actually, was good. About three-quarters of the road was covered, but they didn't actually close it. It was closed last year and two years before that, consecutive years, so that makes it difficult," Wong said.
"When most of us moved out here, some of us were unaware that [flooding] was ever an issue … and also it poses a danger in the event someone needed an ambulance, they'd be trapped."
In past years, the province has provided a shuttle boat to get people to and from the island when it gets cut off, due to flooding.
But in the spring, Environment and Local Government Minister Brian Kenny said the service was being discontinued, due to safety concerns.