The votes have been counted and the Canadian Automobile Association has chosen the winner of their Atlantic Canada’s Worst Road contest.

For the second straight year, Gillis Point Road in rural Cape Breton has the dubious distinction as our region's worst road.

“It's a distinction that we in the area don't want to have,” says Victoria County Councillor Paul MacNeil.

According to CAA, it's a distinction that's well-earned. Gary Howard, Vice President of Marketing & Communications for CAA in the Maritimes, says it isn’t easy to top its 'worst roads' list twice in a row.

“That's a lot of voting,” says Howard. “There's a lot of roads out there. This must be a whole community effort.”

Throughout MacNeil’s eight years on council, there has been a constant effort to get the road fixed, but he says the lack of results speaks for itself.

The main route to the tiny community of Washabuck is a mess, 16 kilometres of washed-out culverts and crumbling concrete.

“You know it's a really bad situation when our pastor has to apologize from the church altar to mourners at a funeral for the conditions of this road,” says resident Vince MacLean.

MacNeil says the rough road is not just an inconvenience; it has a negative economic impact.

“Tourists especially, once they travel this road once, they don't want to come back,” says MacNeil.

The condition of the road also impacts emergency vehicles.

“They have to travel this road,” says MacNeil. “It delays their time to get to an emergency, a fire, it puts people in danger.”

Multiple sections of road are so badly damaged, the majority of traffic travels on the other side of the yellow line.

Nova Scotia's transportation minister says he's aware of the state of the road and that a tender for some repairs will go out this summer.

“It’s tough to justify a full paving project, that would be several million dollars, given the low volumes, but certainly it is an important road for those in the community,” says Geoff MacLellan, Nova Scotia transportation minister. “So, by looking at chip seal and other patching work we can do, we’ll do our very best to strengthen it.”

Area residents say they want a long-term fix. They hope the attention brought by the double dishonour will help make that happen.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Ryan MacDonald