Minister blames Route 616 potholes on weather, contractor and PC leader
Transportation Minister Bill Fraser says province is working with a contractor to get road fixed
Transportation Minister Bill Fraser is blaming part of Route 616's faulty road conditions on the province's mercurial weather — and promises people in the Keswick Ridge area that the stretch of road will be repaired.
A contractor rebuilt the one-kilometre stretch of Route 616 eight months ago in a project overseen by the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. Before that, the road was cracked and broken, and potholes were emerging.
The same contractor will do the next repair work.
"We've had some extreme weather conditions … we're working with the contractor who was awarded the tender to ensure that that road is going to be brought back to standard," Fraser said Monday in an interview with Information Morning Fredericton.
In addition to blaming the weather and suggesting the contractor was also at fault, Fraser blamed Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs for leaving the Liberals with problems to fix four years ago.
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Last week, residents gathered at a town hall meeting to express their concerns about the road conditions.
Fraser said he feels the frustration of people travelling on Route 616. He said that Higgs, when he was finance minister in the former PC government, made spending decisions that led to bad roads.
"I want to assure the people that live on that section of road and that travel that section of road on a daily basis that we are going to get that fixed," Fraser said.
"It's going to be brought back up to the standard that it needs to be brought back up to."
Work to last longer than 8 months
Tanya Greer, a spokesperson with the Department of Transportation, said the cost was about $1 million for the initial road repairs done by Hogan Paving Ltd., the successful bidder on the job.
In an email to CBC News, she said the next round of repairs will be covered by the contractor under warranty.
Fraser said the province put out a tender last year and repair work was done on the road.
"Through our procurement process we're obligated to go with the low bid and when we award a contract to a company, they're obligated to follow the specifications of the contract," he said.
"Any remediation that we can receive back from the company we will base on the contract that we had with the company."
When the repairs were completed last year, he said the road "was in good shape."
Fraser said the province was expecting the repair job to last longer than eight months.
He said engineers with the department initially tested materials used in the project, which met requirements.
"That's why there's warranty, that's why there's specifications in our contracts, in our tenders," he said.
"To ensure that anybody who does work for the province of New Brunswick through our procurement process, they have to meet those standards and if they don't they have to be held to account."
Now the department is working with the contractor to make sure the road is brought back to standard.
Repairs will have to wait
But repair work can't be done on the road until temperatures warm up.
"We're working diligently with the contractor to ensure the work is done to bring it back up to where it needs to be," he said.
"Unfortunately, we can't do that work right immediately in this time frame."
In the meantime, the department has been out repairing potholes with an asphalt cold-patch product and putting up signs warning drivers of potholes.
The local service district will hold its annual meeting on April 17. Fraser said he or a representative will attend.
CBC News has reached out to Hogan Paving, but the company did not wish to comment.