'It's embarrassing:' Nackawic-area residents rail against rotting Route 605

About 35 residents in the Nackawic area, frustrated by the crumbling, potholed road to Millville, staged a protest Wednesday to try to catch the provincial government's attention.

The protesters gathered on Route 605, a 15-kilometre road between Millville and Nackawic pocked with holes that reappear every year.

I've lost a hubcap, wheel alignments, tire wear, suspension wear on the car.- Peter Clay, protester

Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Bill Fraser visited the area this week and agreed the road needed work, although he blamed Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs, suggesting he was tightfisted during the previous government.

Pat Graham, a woods worker who lives in Maple Ridge, south of Millville, said the road is so bad he refuses to take tree-cutting jobs along it.

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"If anybody asked me to yard up this road, I'd refuse," said Graham. "I got better trails in the woods,

It's gotten so bad, he said, that for groceries, he travels to Woodstock — a 35-minute drive out of his way — to avoid Route 605, which he only uses to go to the bank.

"I just dread to go to Nackawic," Graham said.

Nancy Matchett, who does use Route 605, said she had a visit from Fraser on Tuesday.

He told her "they're still planning on just putting pavement in the holes," Matchett said. "And they said we may be on the list for next year."

Shannon Tansley, who lives along the road, said patching the road year after year isn't enough.

"I've been here since 2010, and they continuously patch the road every year, which, within three months, is completely gone," Tansley said.

"Then by the time winter comes, the plow destroys the road again."

Fraser says other roads are worse

Fraser said Route 605 needs repairs but isn't unique.

"I've seen it first hand," he told reporters Wednesday. "I drove the road last night from one end to the other. I've been to many other parts of the province where there's roads are in just as bad a shape, if not worse."

Fraser directed some blame at Higgs, who he said was finance minister in a government that didn't spend enough on infrastructure.

Many Conservative MLAs call Fraser "looking for more money for infrastructure and looking for money to [fix] roads in the ridings for the people they represent," the minister said.

"Yet their leader is criticizing me every day, saying we're wasting too much money on infrastructure."

'It's embarrassing'

Peter Clay, who often drives on Route 605, didn't mince words when asked about the state of the road.

"It's embarrassing, not only for the province, but to the whole area around here," said Clay.

Clay said the road has done damage to his vehicle.

"I've lost a hubcap, wheel alignments, tire wear, suspension wear on the car," said Clay.

Matchett said Fraser told her the province is focusing on fixing newer roads, with only a few potholes, so they don't get as bad as Route 605 has.

"I said, 'that don't make sense,'" she said. "You need to do the roads [that are] bad, not the roads [that are] good."