Decade anniversary brings forward push for bridge replacement in rural New Brunswick
Ten years have now passed, but Donna Black remembers the 2014 flood like it was yesterday.
“When this happened my husband and I and our children, we waded in water up to this with hip waders on into our neighbours farm, saving his cattle,” she said, gesturing to chest level.
“They were all tied up in his barn and without that he would have lost his whole herd of cattle.”
A decade later, the damage is still evident from the flood in the rural New Brunswick community.
All that remains of the washed away Cherryvale Covered Bridge is a large gap separating the small community into two.
Butternut Valley Mayor Alan Brown describes it as three things: an inconvenience, a safety hazard and he says it’s limiting growth in the area.
“Coles Island Fire Department can’t get here anywhere near the time that Havelock can, but it’s under the Cole’s Island area,” he said.
“Economic development has left this area. When the highway passed Sussex and they put the new Trans-Canada in, a lot of business that was in this area left and closed down and it would have been nice to see it come back, but until we get a reliable crossing that’s not going to happen.”
The shortest route now for residents to use is the McDonald Road, but it’s a dirt road at grade level, and the mayor says it’s often closed due to weather or road conditions.
Brown says they had a pre-feasibility study done on Exit 365, which is where you come into Butternut Valley off the Trans Canada Highway. One of the things that came out of it was the lack of a direct reliable crossing over the Canaan River.
“If you live on this side of the Canaan river and you want to go to Fredericton, you’re heading to Havelock and going on the Trans Canada in Havelock and coming back so that’s 40 minutes anyways probably more just on wasted travel because you can’t get across the river if the McDonald road is out,” he said.
While a small community overall, Black says it’s growing and residents deserve the same access to emergency services as everyone else.
“Any EMOs cannot reach us like when it floods the way it flooded back in 2014,” she said.
“When we flood, we are absolutely 100 per cent on an island. We cannot get out any other way than by boat or by helicopter.”
The MLA for the area, Ross Wetmore says it’s been a long process to be replaced.
“The Cherryvale Covered Bridge fell under the disaster financial assistance program, so we should have been able to get up to 90 per cent of the replacement funding for that bridge if the Department of Transportation had of put it in their program,” he said.
Adding, “Unfortunately the Disaster Financial Assistance Program for that project is closed and so that funding is not available anymore. I think that probably to build a new covered bridge there would probably be now a days close to a $2 million project.”
At this point, Black and Brown says any type of bridge would do as long as one was put in.
The New Brunswick Department of Transportation and Infrastructure said in an email to CTV News Monday morning there are currently no plans to replace the bridge.
In part, the statement read: “Following the bridge washout in 2014, work was done to repair and maintain the adjacent single-lane MacDonald Road bridge as a point of crossing over the Canaan River. DTI is currently undertaking a planning exercise to determine if any improvements are required on the existing road network.”
The statement adds a bridge is also available on Route 112 for people to cross the Canaan River.
“Certainly I’d work with the community, but I’ve been working on it for 10 years, it’s been quite a slug,” said Wetmore.
As for the community, they say it’s time for the province to fix what they’ve left broken.
“The roads in Butternut Valley, any provincial road in a rural municipality is still the provinces,” said Brown.
“We don’t actually have any roads that are under our jurisdiction. We don’t look after any of that so really it’s on them to fix this.”
As for Black, she says it’s a waiting game they never expected to still be apart of.
“This many years later the only thing that has saved us is we haven’t had a lot of rain, we haven’t had a lot of snow and ice. Those are the things that saved us here or we’d be right in the same shape again,” she said.
“One of these days, we’re going to be on an island again.”
For more New Brunswick news visit our dedicated provincial page.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.5539352.1628465336!/httpImage/image.png_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.png)
Alberta calls in army to assist with wildfire situation
Alberta has called in the Canadian Armed Forces to help assist with the worsening wildfire situation in the province.
DEVELOPING First responders relocated from Jasper National Park to Hinton due to wildfire activity
Vehicles and heavy equipment have been seen leaving Jasper National Park throughout Wednesday afternoon.
2 wildfires less than 8 km away from Jasper townsite, some structures impacted in national park
As the evacuation order continues for Jasper National Park, officials confirm that some structures in the park have been damaged by fire, but they can't confirm what those structures are.
Biden uses Oval Office address to explain his decision to quit 2024 race, begin to shape legacy
Insisting that 'the defence of democracy is more important than any title,' U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday explained in an Oval Office address his decision to drop his bid for reelection and to throw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
Barrie-Innisfil MPP 'blacked-out' and crashed car into window of child care centre
Staff at a Barrie child care centre say they are frustrated by what they call a local MPP's inadequate response after a car crashed through a window in one of the toddler rooms.
2 Canadians being 'sent home immediately,' removed from Olympic team after drone incident
An analyst and an assistant coach with Canada Soccer are being removed from the Canadian Olympic Team and 'sent home immediately,' according to the Canadian Olympic Committee.
An unwelcome attendee has joined the Paris Olympic Games: COVID-19
After a handful of Australian water polo players tested positive for COVID-19 this week, questions have emerged around how the spread of the disease will be mitigated at the Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
Male, female killed, 2 others injured in 'gun battle' outside Toronto plaza: police
Two people are dead and two others suffered serious injuries following a shooting that police have described as a 'gun battle' outside a plaza in Scarborough, Ont. early Wednesday morning.
Wildfire north of Calgary prompts evacuation alert, highway closures
A wildfire is prompting evacuations and highway closures north of Calgary.