Clay roads in P.E.I.'s Queens County a mess of ruts say residents

The condition of some of the clay roads in Queens County, P.E.I., has some residents of the rural community questioning their safety.

Wendy Gadsden lives on the Toronto Road and said the freeze-thaw cycle on the Island the past few weeks has created some dangerous conditions.

"It's unpassable unless you are driving a four wheel drive and even at that, it's dangerous because there is no, you can't grip the road. Your vehicle is just thrown from one side to the next," she said.

Gadsden is particularly concerned about children in the area.

"This is a school bus route which I find unbelievable that the bus actually somehow can manoeuvre that road," she said.

Gadsden said neighbours have been trying to get the road fixed for 20 years and a long-term solution is needed.

The area's Progressive Conservative MLA, Brad Trivers, agrees.

"We need to have a multi-year approach so that we get aggregate such as off-Island gravel, good quality aggregate on the road in the off-season, packed in and placed properly so that year over year, the roads improve," he said.

Darren Chaisson with the Department of Transportation said the Island has 1,500 km of unpaved roads to deal with.

He admits this year has been exceptionally bad for temperature fluctuations, which are always bad for roads, but the roads are a lot better than they were 20 or 30 years ago.

Trivers said that is small comfort for drivers.

"The clay roads are very muddy and rutted to the extent where some constituents are finding their cars even dragging on the road," he said.

"The bottom of their cars are actually hitting the road when they go through the ruts." 

Every spring, transportation officials do a survey to come up a plan, then crews bring in shale and gravel to build up the roads.

The province said it spends hundreds of thousands of dollars every year on clay roads but they can't get to all of them.